"Govt Ordered to Make SGR Contracts Public", Kenyans, 18 May 2026

The Court of Appeal has ordered the government to release all documents linked to the Nairobi-Mombasa Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), ruling that withholding the information from taxpayers [...] is unconstitutional.

“The Court underscored that access to State-held information is a constitutional and democratic entitlement, subject only to narrowly construed and constitutionally justifiable limitations, and that the burden of proving any exemption rests squarely upon the State or public authority withholding the information,” stated the ruling in part.

Their argument was that the SGR cost over Ksh583 billion, financed largely through public funds and loans guaranteed by Kenyan taxpayers, yet critical project documents, including contracts, feasibility studies, and environmental assessments, were kept completely out of public reach.