Free authorisation letter template
A free authorisation letter template for Kenya, for when you need someone to do one named thing on your behalf — collect a certificate, sign for goods, present a claim at a counter. It names the person, the task and the dates, and it is revocable. It is not a power of attorney: anything to do with land, a bank mandate or continuing authority needs that instrument instead.
What you still need to do
- Check that a letter is enough. Land, bank mandates, general authority or authority that is to survive loss of capacity all need a power of attorney, formally executed — not this.
- Ask the receiving organisation what they require before you go. Many have their own form, and some insist the signature be witnessed by a commissioner for oaths or a bank official.
- Keep the authority to one named task, and give it an end date.
- Name the exact documents the person may be given, and the purpose. A consent that does not specify the purpose does not meet section 30(1) of the Data Protection Act.
- Attach copies of both identity documents, and send a copy of the letter to the organisation directly where you can.
- If you change your mind, revoke it in writing and tell the organisation — the letter does not expire merely because you no longer mean it.
Why each clause is here
Every clause in this document is drawn from the provision named beside it, and the wording of each provision was read in the Act itself. Where the law fixes something a document cannot change, this is where it says so.
🔴 This block is first because the consequence of getting it wrong is the worst thing on the page. Section 3(6) of the Law of Contract Act, defining terms for contracts disposing of an interest in land, provides that "party" includes any agent, auctioneer or advocate duly authorized IN WRITING to act in the absence of the party who has given such authority — and it treats signature by an attorney of a body corporate as signature by an attorney appointed by a power of attorney registered under the Registration of Documents Act. Land and continuing authority sit in that formal world. A counter-staff errand does not.
Both identity numbers matter. The organisation receiving this letter has to satisfy itself that the person at the counter is the person named, and that the person who signed is you — so the letter has to carry enough to check both. No Act we hold prescribes the wording of this clause.
🔴 Narrow is safe. The organisation relying on this letter will act on what it says, so an authority written broadly ("to act on my behalf in this matter") is a wider permission than most people intend. Paragraph 2 is the limit stated expressly, and paragraph 3 closes it in time — an authorisation with no end date can still be presented a year later. No Act we hold prescribes this wording.
Where the errand involves handing over someone’s personal data, the organisation doing the handing over has its own duties. Section 30(1) of the Data Protection Act provides that personal data shall not be processed unless the data subject consents to the processing for one or more specified purposes, or the processing is necessary on one of the listed grounds; and section 28(2)(c) allows collection from another source where the data subject has consented to it. 🔑 That is why paragraph 4 names the documents and the purpose: a consent to "my records" for unspecified purposes is not a consent for specified purposes, and the counter staff are entitled to refuse it.
No Act we hold requires an authorisation letter to be witnessed. A witness and a contact number are here because the organisation receiving the letter may want to verify it, and a letter nobody can check is a letter that gets refused. Some institutions insist the signature be witnessed by a commissioner for oaths or a bank official — ask first, because a second trip costs more than a phone call.
The provisions, in the Act’s own words
Spacing is normalised for reading. Every word is the Act’s.
"interest in land" means any estate in or charge over land, or any estate in or charge over the proceeds of sale of land; … "transfer" includes a mortgage, charge, lease, conveyance, assignment, assent, vesting declaration, vesting instrument disclaimer, release and every other assurance of property or any interest therein by any instrument other than a will or a codicil.
the data subject has consented to the collection from another source;
A data controller or data processor shall not process personal data, unless— (a) the data subject consents to the processing for one or more specified purposes; or (b) the processing is necessary—