The Commission on Monday 24th February 2020, conducted a stakeholders’ validation for the Draft Specimen Model Law on Access to Information for the County Governments.
The event which brought together county Information Access Officers(IAO), county executives, private sector, civil society and Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs), presented an opportunity for the stakeholders to share their views on the draft law with a view to improving it.
Section 95 of the County Governments Act, 2012, requires county governments to enact legislation to ensure access to information in order to give further effect to Article 35 of the Constitution and subject to national legislation governing access to information.
Speaking during the validation, the Commissioner in Charge of Access to Information, Ms Lucy Ndung’u, reiterated that the Commission will support counties as they embark on legislation of the county access to information law and that the feedback received from the stakeholders will go a long way in improving the model law.
The development of the Model Specimen law has been necessitated by the need to have harmonisation and uniformity of the county access to information laws to ensure that all laws passed by the assemblies meet the constitutional principles and do not contradict the national law—Access to Information Act, 2016.
