Access to Information
Refused information? Ask the Commission to review it
Under the Access to Information Act, 2016, the Commission reviews how a public or private institution handled your request for information — and rules on it. You can also ask the Commission for information it holds itself.
Two different things — which one is yours?
Most people · Review
Apply for a review
You asked a public institution — or a private one — for information and were refused, ignored, given only part of it, charged a fee you dispute, or refused a correction to your personal information.
The Commission reviews how the institution handled your request and ends every application with a ruling.
The Commission's own records
Ask the Commission for information
You want information the Commission on Administrative Justice itself holds.
The Commission must decide within 21 days, and may extend once by up to 14 days.
If the information concerns a person's life or liberty, the Commission must answer within 48 hours.
Am I ready to apply for a review?
Other ways to apply
By post
Commission on Administrative Justice, P.O. Box 20414 – 00200, Nairobi
What to include
- Your name, and the e-mail address or phone number the Commission should write to about your request.
- A copy of your national ID or Kenyan passport — reviews are for citizens and cannot be anonymous.
- The information holder — the public or private institution you asked.
- When you asked and what you asked for (describe the records), with a copy of your request and proof the institution received it — the e-mail, a stamped copy, a delivery receipt.
- When the institution replied and what it said, with a copy — or that it did not reply.
- Your request that the Commission review the institution's response, signed and dated.
These are the questions on the Commission's Form ATI 6 — Request for review by the Commission (r.24(2)). The online form asks them for you; by e-mail or post, send the form or a letter that answers them. The Commission may ask for anything missing.
Before you apply: your right to information
Your legal right
The Access to Information Act, 2016 gives every citizen the right to information held by the State and by private institutions performing public functions.
21 days for the institution
An institution must decide your request within 21 days. For complex requests it may extend once, by up to 14 days, and must tell you why. Silence counts as a refusal.
Free
Applying to the Commission for a review costs nothing, and so does asking the Commission for information it holds.
New to ATI? Read our step-by-step guide before you begin.
You can also send your request straight to the institution that holds the records — find it in our directory of commissions and MDAs.