No. 31 of 2016
(l)
Access to Information
any other information whose unauthorized disclosure would prejudice
national security.
(3) Subsection (1)(d) and (e) shall not apply if a request for information relates to
the results of any product or environmental testing, and the information concerned
reveals a serious public safety or environmental risk.
(4) Despite anything contained in subsections (1) and (2), a public entity or
private body may be required to disclose information where the public interest in
disclosure outweighs the harm to protected interests as shall be determined by a
Court.
(5) A public entity is not obliged to supply information to a requester if that
information is reasonably accessible by other means.
(6) In considering the public interest referred in subsection (4), particular regard
shall be had to the constitutional principles on the need to—
(a) promote accountability of public entities to the public;
(b) ensure that the expenditure of public funds is subject to effective
oversight;
(c) promote informed debate on issues of public interest ;
(d) keep the public adequately informed about the existence of any
danger to public health or safety or to the environment; and
(e) ensure that any statutory authority with regulatory responsibilities is
adequately discharging its functions.
(7) Unless the contrary is proved by the public entity or private body, information
is presumed not to be exempt if the information has been held for a period
exceeding thirty years.
PART III — ACCESS TO INFORMATION
7. Designation of information access officer
(1) A chief executive officer of a public entity shall be an information access
officer for purposes of this Act.
(2) A chief executive officer of a public entity may delegate the performance
of his or her duties as an information access officer under this Act to any officer
of the public entity.
8. Application for access
(1) An application to access information shall be made in writing in English or
Kiswahili and the applicant shall provide details and sufficient particulars for the
public officer or any other official to understand what information is being requested.
(2) Where an applicant is unable to make a written request for access to
information in accordance with subsection (1) because of illiteracy or disability,
the information officer shall take the necessary steps to ensure that the applicant
makes a request in manner that meets their needs.
(3) The information officer shall reduce to writing, in a prescribed form the
request made under subsection (2) and the information officer shall then furnish
the applicant with a copy of the written request.
(4) A public entity may prescribe a form for making an application to access
information, but any such form shall not be such as to unreasonably delay requests
or place an undue burden upon applicants and no application may be rejected on
the ground only that the applicant has not used the prescribed form.