The High Court recognises the government’s delay tactics but nonetheless grants them more time

On Tuesday, 15th June 2021, the access to information petition was to proceed for hearing but was delayed by the non-participation of the Attorney General and the Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ). This matter, instituted on 2nd July 2020 on an urgent basis, seeks to address the failure by various government bodies mandated to implement the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 by: proactively publicising information important to the public in relation to the management of
the COVID-19 Pandemic; and providing information sought from them in accordance to Article
35 of the Constitution and the Access to Information Act, 2016.
The Petitioners also seek to underscore the continued failure of the CAJ to set norms and
standards on access to information. This failure has resulted in the government wilfully ignoring
requests from Kenyans and failing to publicise life and health saving information. The Petitioners
seek judicial intervention as Kenyans continue to grapple with the Pandemic arguing that the
information sought is critical to secure the lives and health of Kenyans.
Despite being provided with additional time to file their responses, the 1st, 2nd and the 5th – 8
th
Respondents have still not filed responses (these are: Mutahi Kagwe, Cabinet Secretary for
Health; Patrick Amoth, AG Director General, Ministry of Health; Fred Matiangi, Cabinet
Secretary for Interior and Coordination of National Government; Hilary Mutyambai, Inspector
General of the Police; Joseph Mucheru, Cabinet Secretary for Information and Communications;
and CAJ respectively).
The court directed that the Respondents file responses on 7th July 2020, 2
nd December 2020, 19th
January 2021 and 8th March 2021. All of these directives have remained unanswered. On 15th
June 2021, the Court gave the Respondents a further ten (10) days to file their responses but noted
that they had continually failed to comply with directives and the matter would proceed without
them if this state of affairs continued.

The Petitioners welcome the Court’s recognition that these Respondents continue to disregard

court directives. The Petitioners look forward to the finalisation of this matter which shall be

heard on 4

th October, 2021 as it was filed on an urgent basis and raises a number of pertinent

issues critical to secure health and life in the context of a pandemic.

Communique seeking access to information

Court order

To contribute to the discussions on this forum, follow KELIN on our social media platforms:

Twitter: @KELINkenya using the hashtag: #RightToInfoKe

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For more information, contact:

Nerima Were

Advocate for the 1st-8th, 10th, 12th and 13th Petitioners

Kuwinda Lane, off Lang’ata Road, Karen C

P.O. Box 112 – 00202 KNH Nairobi

Tel: +254 020 2515790

Office Mobile: +254710261408/+254751292520

nwere@kelinkenya.org