The Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya) is a jurist, non-governmental, and not for profit making organization registered society. Its tripartite mandate is to promote and protect the Rule of Law, Human Rights and Democracy. ICJ Kenya commemorated its 50th anniversary in 2009.
ICJ Kenya has been spearheading the campaign for the enactment of a Freedom of Information law since the year 2000. Freedom of information is a fundamental tool in promoting transparency and accountability in governance, which has a correlative effect on business.
In the absence of this law, information that is critical to corporate and industrial organisations or that would present new business opportunities is often withheld by the government in the traditional government custom of hording information, supported by draconian legislation such as the Official Secrets Act. This has led to unprincipled practises where only some individuals are privy to information which by its very nature should be competitive and accessible to all players in the business sector. Conversely, information to which all businesses should have access as a matter of right is available to only those that have ties with the state.
For this reason, ICJ Kenya seeks to raise awareness and advance its campaign on the need for a Freedom of Information law by hosting an inaugural annual football tournament dubbed The Uwazi Football Cup. The tournament is deliberately convened for business and corporate organisations and will bring together players from the banking, industrial and corporate sector which shall provide a relaxed platform for networking and showcasing the achievements of your prestigious institution. Participation in the tournament will be exclusively for the staff of the sponsoring corporations.AW SOCIETY OF KENYA 2016 CHAMPIONS OF ICJ KENYA UWAZI CUP
The Law Society of Kenya Secretariat are the WINNERS OF THE 2016 ICJ-Kenya UWAZI CUP TOURNAMENT after defeating Ghetto Radio 2-1 in the 7th editions of THE FINALS held on 14th May at the Safaricom Stadium Kasarani in Nairobi.
ICJ Kenya has since 2010 hosted this annual football tournament dubbed the ICJ Kenya Annual Uwazi Cup Football Tournament. Throughout the years, the event has successfully brought together an increased number of public institutions, private institutions and civil society Organizations.
The National Council for Law Reporting (Kenya Law) won the third place play offs after defeating Kenya School of Law (KSL) 2-1 on penalties.
This year the tournament organizers introduced the BOWL competition which kept teams engaged to the end. Standard Media Group won this category after defeating Safaricom 1-0 while The SENATE won the UWAZI PLATE competition after beating ICJ-Kenya 2-1on penalties.
In the individual categories Edigah Kavulavu of ICJ-Kenya emerged theBest Male player while Pearlyne Omamo of the Kenya School of Law was theBest Female. Festus Olendo of the NCLR was the top male scorer with 10 goals while the top scorer in the women category was Mary Wanjiru of Standard Media.
The use of sports is one of the advocacy strategies used by ICJ Kenya to promote transparency and accountability. In this regard, the right to information has been the basis of ICJ Kenya’s campaigns using the Tournament to realize transparency and accountability. Every year the Tournament focuses on highlighting thematic governance issues. This year’s theme was “Transparency and accountability: fighting corruption through access to information.”
Corruption continues to be a major problem in the country due to its steady increase and this informed the need to focus on it during this year’s Uwazi tournament. It cannot be gain said that the negative effects of corruption have adversely affected Kenya’s economy and citizen’s livelihood.
There is therefore need for the country to prioritize addressing corruption issues, develop strategies to strengthen public institutions charged with dealing with corruption and promoting access to information as a tool of fight corruption.
This annual tournament also aims at building synergy with the private sector, civil society, government and the media through collaboratively hosting as a means of advancing the principle of transparency in governance.
ICJ Kenya contends that Freedom of information is a fundamental tool in promoting transparency and accountability in governance. Information is critical to the public, corporate and industrial organizations especially that would present new business and other opportunities for growth as individuals and as a nation.
