The Right to Fair Administrative Action in Kenya (Article 47) Explained
By Our Law Team on August 5, 2025
What Article 47 Guarantees
Article 47 of the Constitution of Kenya gives every person the right to administrative action that is expeditious, efficient, lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair. Where a decision affects your rights, you are also entitled to written reasons. This right covers licensing decisions, tax assessments, tenders, disciplinary actions and almost any act of a public body.
When Can You Challenge a Decision?
The decision was unlawful - beyond the person's powers (ultra vires).
The decision was unreasonable or irrational.
The process was unfair - no hearing, no reasons, bias, or a conflict of interest.
Your Remedies
The main remedy is judicial review - an application to the High Court to quash the decision, compel the body to act, or order it to reconsider. In many cases there are also statutory appeal rights to tribunals or boards, plus damages where you have suffered loss.
What Counts as Administrative Action
Article 47 is not limited to courts and ministries. It applies to any administrative action by a State organ, a public officer or a body exercising a public function - and to private bodies whose decisions affect the public. In practice, clients bring review claims about:
Licensing, permits and approvals - business permits, professional licences, county approvals and environmental decisions.
Tax assessments, audits, waivers and collection enforcement.
Public procurement and tendering decisions, including disqualifications and award recommendations.
Employment, disciplinary and pension decisions by public bodies and commissions.
Land and planning decisions - change of user, subdivision, allocation and demolitions.
Regulatory enforcement - suspension, blacklisting, seizure of goods and refusal to renew.
The Fair Administrative Action Act, 2015
Article 47 is given practical content by the Fair Administrative Action Act, which sets out what procedural fairness means in a real case:
Notice: where a decision is likely to affect you adversely, you are entitled to adequate notice of the proposed action and of the case against you.
A hearing: a reasonable opportunity to be heard, including the chance to present your case, respond to adverse material and, where appropriate, be represented.
Reasons: written reasons for the decision, which you can request - and the same reasons are what make a challenge possible.
Timeliness: the Act requires a decision within a reasonable time and sets an outside limit where no other period is prescribed by law. Silent inaction is itself reviewable.
Grounds for Judicial Review
Unlawfulness: the decision-maker had no power to make it, applied the wrong law, or exceeded the authority given by statute.
Irrationality or unreasonableness: no reasonable decision-maker could have reached the decision on the material available.
Procedural unfairness: no notice, no hearing, no opportunity to respond, or reasons that are simply absent.
Bias or conflict of interest: a decision-maker with a personal or financial interest, or one who has already prejudged the matter.
Improper motive: bad faith, malice, or a collateral purpose behind the decision.
Relevant and irrelevant considerations: ignoring factors the law requires to be considered, or relying on ones that should not have counted.
Legitimate expectation: acting contrary to a clear promise or settled practice on which you relied.
Remedies the Court Can Grant
Certiorari: an order bringing a decision before the court so that it can be quashed.
Mandamus: an order compelling a public body to perform a duty it has refused or failed to perform - for example, to determine an application it has sat on.
Prohibition: an order stopping a body from acting unlawfully or exceeding its jurisdiction.
Declaration: a binding statement of the parties' rights and of the unlawfulness of the decision.
Damages and compensation: where the unfair decision has caused measurable loss, the court can award compensation.
Remittal: sending the matter back to the decision-maker with directions on how to reconsider it properly.
Tribunals, Internal Appeals and Exhaustion of Remedies
Judicial review is not always the first door to knock on. Many statutes create a specialist appeal route, and the Fair Administrative Action Act expects a party to exhaust available internal remedies before asking the court to intervene, unless the court excuses that requirement. Common routes include:
The Tax Appeals Tribunal for disputed tax assessments and customs decisions.
The Public Procurement Administrative Review Board for tendering disputes, on very tight timelines.
The Employment and Labour Relations Court for public sector employment and disciplinary decisions.
County and sector appeal committees for planning, licensing and valuation matters.
Professional disciplinary tribunals for licensing and conduct decisions affecting professionals.
Choosing wrongly - filing a review where an appeal was required, or an appeal where the real complaint is procedural unfairness - is one of the most common reasons meritorious cases fail. The forum decision should be made deliberately, at the outset.
Deadlines and Procedure
Judicial review is a fast-moving remedy. An application is normally filed in the High Court and must be brought promptly - generally within six months of the decision or of the date the applicant became aware of it - and the court has a discretion to extend time where there is good reason. Some statutory regimes are far shorter: procurement challenges are counted in days, and internal appeal periods can be as short as seven or fourteen days. Because the clock usually starts from the decision or from when you learned of it, waiting for a promised review that never comes is dangerous.
Practical Steps When a Decision Goes Against You
Request the decision and the reasons in writing, and keep proof of when you received them.
Identify the correct appeal or review forum, and diarise every deadline immediately.
Preserve the record - the application, correspondence, submissions and any minutes of the hearing.
Exhaust the internal remedy unless there is a clear reason it would be futile.
Act before enforcement: a decision that is implemented - a licence revoked, goods seized, a contract awarded - is far harder to undo.
Act Fast
Judicial review applications generally must be filed within 6 months of the decision. Public procurement challenges have even shorter windows, so engage a lawyer immediately after an adverse decision.
