Law & Regulation
Arbitration Act, 1995
The Arbitration Act is Kenya's principal statutory framework for domestic and international arbitration. It governs arbitration agreements, tribunal constitution and powers, court support, awards, challenges and recognition/enforcement.
Legal Significance
What This Instrument Does
It gives legal effect to arbitration agreements, limits court intervention to authorised circumstances, supplies default procedures where parties have not agreed them, and defines the grounds on which courts may assist, set aside, recognise or enforce awards. Institutional rules and the parties' clause remain essential alongside the statute.
Why It Matters
Infrastructure contracts commonly use arbitration for complex, cross-border and long-term disputes. The Act affects clause drafting, interim protection, tribunal jurisdiction, procedural autonomy and enforceability. It does not itself choose the seat, institution, rules, language or substantive law for the parties.
Key Provisions
- Arbitration agreement
Establishes formal validity and the matters that parties have committed to arbitration.
- Stay of court proceedings
Supports referral to arbitration when litigation is brought despite a valid agreement, subject to statutory conditions.
- Court-intervention boundary
Preserves arbitral autonomy while identifying permitted judicial functions.
- Tribunal appointment and challenge
Provides default constitution and impartiality mechanisms.
- Tribunal jurisdiction
Enables the tribunal to determine its authority, subject to the Act's review structure.
- Interim measures
Supports preservation of assets, evidence or status through tribunal or court powers as applicable.
- Procedure and evidence
Gives parties and tribunals flexibility subject to equality and fair-treatment requirements.
- Applicable law and decision-making
Frames how the tribunal determines the merits where party choices or conflict rules apply.
- Award form and finality
Sets requirements for a legally cognisable award and its binding effect.
- Correction, interpretation and additional award
Provides limited post-award mechanisms without reopening the merits generally.
- Setting aside
Confines annulment to specified grounds and time limits.
- Recognition and enforcement
Provides the domestic gateway for enforcing Kenyan and qualifying foreign awards, subject to limited defences.
When You Would Use This
Drafting an arbitration clause
Selecting Kenya as seat
Seeking a stay or interim relief
Constituting or challenging a tribunal
Managing jurisdictional issues
Challenging an award
Enforcing a domestic or foreign award
InfraLex Relevance
Primary / Framework for Arbitration & Dispute Resolution. Its interaction with project agreements, government entities and sector processes belongs in contract-specific analysis; those interfaces do not justify broad law-to-law persisted relationships.
Legal Framework Position
- Arbitration & Dispute ResolutionPrimary / Framework Instrument
Related / Implementing Instruments
Instrument Overview
- Official Citation
- Act No. 4 of 1995
- Instrument Type
- Law / Act
- Source Language
- English
- Last Verified
- 6 September 2026