Leadership and political will for implementation of the access to information (ATI) Act (2016) in Kenya

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of leadership and political will towards successful implementation of an access to information (ATI) legislation.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopted a mixed methods approach with a bias towards a quantitative survey, complemented by a qualitative follow-up and triangulation during data collection. A complement of theoretical models underpinned the paper, thus enhancing understanding of the multifaceted phenomenon of ATI.FindingsThe paper revealed that the state has demonstrated leadership and political will for ATI by developing government-wide records management manual for public entities; developing an ATI implementation action plan and availing resources for ATI. However, there is need to review laws that perpetuate secrecy; formulate regulations to operationalize the Act and allocate adequate finances for ATI activities.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper focused on assessing the extent of leadership and political will on the executive arm of the government excluding the Judiciary and the legislature.Practical implicationsThe paper proposes an ATI implementation roadmap, which can be adopted by other countries with comparable contexts.Social implicationsThe proposed action plan if adopted will result in an informed citizenry that understands and leverages ATI to claim their socio-economic rights.Originality/valueThe paper provides empirical evidence on some aspects of leadership such as the ministries with ATI policy; level of engagement of policy-makers in ATI matters and the availability of resources for ATI. Further, the paper adopted a multidisciplinary approach by including the concept of ‘meaningful engagement’ whose theoretical foundation is in law to the concept of access to information.