Your basic rights as a consumer
Constitution of Kenya 2010; Consumer Protection Act · sources read 4 Oct 2026
The Constitution gives every consumer the right to goods and services of reasonable quality, the information needed to benefit from them, protection of health, safety and economic interests, and compensation for loss or injury from defective goods or services. These rights apply to both public and private sellers.
- Where
- The seller first; then the Competition Authority of Kenya (complaints) or the appropriate court
Steps
- If you signed up after the seller used an unfair practice, you can cancel the agreement and claim any remedy the law allows, including damages.
- Give the seller notice in any form that shows you want to cancel and why.
- Complain to the Competition Authority of Kenya by post, email, phone or in person, using its consumer complaint form.
- CAK can open an investigation into your complaint; consumer bodies and government agencies can also report a seller to it.
- If you get no satisfactory response to your notice, you can take the matter to court.
Watch out
- Making a false, misleading or deceptive representation is an unfair practice under the Consumer Protection Act.
- If you cannot return the goods, you can still recover what you overpaid compared with their real value, or damages.
- Complaints CAK cannot resolve may go to the Director of Public Prosecutions after investigation.
- Under the Competition Act, unconscionable conduct by a seller towards a consumer is a criminal offence, not just an unfair practice.
- Banks, micro-finance lenders, insurers and other service providers may not charge you fees they did not tell you about before charging or before giving the service.
- Selling consumer goods that fail a prescribed safety standard, or that have been declared unsafe, is an offence.
- A seller convicted under the Competition Act's consumer part faces up to 5 years in prison, a fine of up to KSh 10 million, or both.
Who this covers
- Anyone buying goods or services, from a private business or a public entity.
Official sources (4)
- Constitution of Kenya, 2010 new.kenyalaw.org · read 2 Oct 2026
- Consumer Protection Act (Cap. 501, No. 46 of 2012) new.kenyalaw.org · read 2 Oct 2026
- Consumer Protection cak.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- Competition Act (Cap. 504, No. 12 of 2010), Revised Edition 2022 cak.go.ke · read 4 Oct 2026