Aldai Constituency Fund Manager Ordered to Release Information

The Commission has ordered that the Aldai Constituency Fund Manager, facilities access to information relating to Aldai Schools Renovation Program where the seventeen schools were renovated at a cost of Kshs. 52,000,000.

A law firm, Kipkosgei Choge and Company Advocates, on behalf of Aldai residents, requested information from the Constituency Fund Manager on 5^th December 2023. The information sought included;

1. Particulars of the schools where the program was rolled out and each specific budget;
2. Scope of Works;
3. Minutes of schools BOM/stakeholders that prioritised the renovations;
4. Appointment letters of Project Management Committee and their technical expertise;
5. Account signatories for each school and where the accounts are domiciled;
6. Safeguards put in place to prevent loss of public funds;
7. Names of the suppliers and how they were sourced;
8. How the payments to suppliers and labour were done; and
9. How public money will be audited by the Office of the Auditor General

The Fund Manager did not respond to the information request prompting the law firm to make an application for review with the Commission.

The Commission took up the matter and requested the Fund Manager to respond to the request.

“The Commission notes that the statutory timeliness to process the request for information under section 9(1) of the ATI Act has since elapsed. The Commission, therefore, requests for your institutional report under section 22 (3) of the ATI Act to allow for appropriate decision,” read the letter. 

The letter by the Commission did not elicit any response prompting the Commission to issue an order on 30^th July, 2024, directing the release of the requested information within seven days. 

 “Pursuant to powers granted by sections 22(3)(a)(i) and 23(2)(a) of the Access to Information Act, 2016, the Commission determines that the information requested by the Applicants is public information/records held by the respondent and thus hereby orders that the Fund Manager, Aldai Constituency, facilitates access to information and records held relating to the request for information made by Choge and Company Advocates through a letter dated 5^th December 2023. The compliance with the order is to be within seven days,” read the order of the Commission.