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eu.ansvar/kenya-law-mcp

Kenya legislation via MCP — full-text search across statutes and provisions

Search & KnowledgeTypeScriptv1.1.0

Kenya Law MCP Server

The Kenya Law alternative for the AI age.

npm version MCP Registry License GitHub stars CI Daily Data Check Database Status

Query Kenyan law -- from the Data Protection Act 2019 and the Cybercrimes Act to the Employment Act 2007, Companies Act, and more -- directly from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible client.

If you're building legal tech, compliance tools, or doing Kenyan legal research, this is your verified reference database.

Built by Ansvar Systems -- Stockholm, Sweden


Why This Exists

Kenyan legal research means navigating kenyalaw.org (the Kenya Law Reform Commission and National Council for Law Reporting), the Kenya Gazette, and scattered PDF publications. Whether you're:

  • A lawyer validating citations in a brief or contract
  • A compliance officer checking obligations under the Data Protection Act 2019 or the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act
  • A legal tech developer building tools on Kenyan law
  • A researcher tracing legislative provisions across Acts of Parliament

...you shouldn't need dozens of browser tabs and manual PDF cross-referencing. Ask Claude. Get the exact provision. With context.

This MCP server makes Kenyan law searchable, cross-referenceable, and AI-readable.


Quick Start

Use Remotely (No Install Needed)

Connect directly to the hosted version -- zero dependencies, nothing to install.

Endpoint: https://kenya-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp

ClientHow to Connect
Claude.aiSettings > Connectors > Add Integration > paste URL
Claude Codeclaude mcp add kenya-law --transport http https://kenya-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp
Claude DesktopAdd to config (see below)
GitHub CopilotAdd to VS Code settings (see below)

Claude Desktop -- add to claude_desktop_config.json:

json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kenya-law": {
      "type": "url",
      "url": "https://kenya-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

GitHub Copilot -- add to VS Code settings.json:

json
{
  "github.copilot.chat.mcp.servers": {
    "kenya-law": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://kenya-law-mcp.vercel.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Use Locally (npm)

bash
npx @ansvar/kenya-law-mcp

Claude Desktop -- add to claude_desktop_config.json:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kenya-law": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ansvar/kenya-law-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Cursor / VS Code:

json
{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "kenya-law": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@ansvar/kenya-law-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Example Queries

Once connected, just ask naturally:

  • "What does the Data Protection Act 2019 say about the obligations of data processors?"
  • "Find provisions in the Penal Code about cybercrime and computer misuse"
  • "Search for employment rights under the Employment Act 2007"
  • "What does the Companies Act say about director duties and liability?"
  • "Is the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act 2018 still in force?"
  • "Find provisions about consumer protection in Kenyan law"
  • "Build a legal stance on data breach notification obligations in Kenya"
  • "Validate the citation 'Section 26 of the Data Protection Act 2019'"

In Swahili (Kiswahili):

  • "Sheria ya Ulinzi wa Data inasema nini kuhusu ridhaa ya mtumiaji?" (What does the Data Protection Act say about user consent?)
  • "Tafuta masharti ya sheria ya ajira chini ya Sheria ya Ajira 2007" (Search for labour provisions under the Employment Act 2007)
  • "Je, Sheria ya Makampuni inasema nini kuhusu majukumu ya wakurugenzi?" (What does the Companies Act say about director duties?)

What's Included

Note: This server is currently in initial ingestion. The infrastructure, tools, and deployment are live and operational. The package.json references 494 Acts and 21,000+ provisions as the target corpus from kenyalaw.org. Legislation content is being added progressively. The database will be populated and this notice updated as ingestion completes.

CategoryCountDetails
ActsTarget: 494+Acts of Parliament from kenyalaw.org (ingestion in progress)
ProvisionsTarget: 21,000+Full-text searchable with FTS5
Legal DefinitionsPlannedExtraction from Act texts
Database SizeGrowingOptimized SQLite, portable
Freshness ChecksAutomatedMonitoring against kenyalaw.org

Verified data only -- every citation validated against official sources. Zero LLM-generated content.


Why This Works

Verbatim Source Text (No LLM Processing):

  • All statute text is ingested from kenyalaw.org (National Council for Law Reporting and Kenya Law Reform Commission)
  • Provisions are returned unchanged from SQLite FTS5 database rows
  • Zero LLM summarization or paraphrasing -- the database contains statute text, not AI interpretations

Smart Context Management:

  • Search returns ranked provisions with BM25 scoring (safe for context)
  • Provision retrieval gives exact text by Act name and section number
  • Cross-references help navigate without loading everything at once

Technical Architecture:

text
kenyalaw.org --> Parse --> SQLite --> FTS5 snippet() --> MCP response
                  ^                        ^
           Provision parser         Verbatim database query

Traditional Research vs. This MCP

Traditional ApproachThis MCP Server
Search kenyalaw.org by Act nameSearch by plain language: "data protection consent"
Navigate multi-section Acts manuallyGet the exact provision with context
Manual cross-referencing between Actsbuild_legal_stance aggregates across sources
"Is this Act still in force?" --> check manuallycheck_currency tool --> answer in seconds
Find EAC/AU alignment --> dig through frameworksget_eu_basis --> linked frameworks instantly
No API, no integrationMCP protocol --> AI-native

Traditional: Search kenyalaw.org --> Download PDF --> Ctrl+F --> Cross-reference Acts --> Check Kenya Gazette for amendments --> Repeat

This MCP: "What are the obligations on data controllers under the Data Protection Act 2019 and how do they align with EAC frameworks?" --> Done.


Available Tools (13)

Core Legal Research Tools (8)

ToolDescription
search_legislationFTS5 full-text search across provisions with BM25 ranking. Supports quoted phrases, boolean operators, prefix wildcards
get_provisionRetrieve specific provision by Act name and section number (e.g., "Data Protection Act 2019" + "Section 26")
check_currencyCheck if an Act is in force, amended, or repealed
validate_citationValidate citation against database -- zero-hallucination check. Supports "Section 26 Data Protection Act 2019", "s. 5 Employment Act 2007"
build_legal_stanceAggregate citations from multiple Acts for a legal topic
format_citationFormat citations per Kenyan conventions (full/short/pinpoint)
list_sourcesList all available Acts with metadata, coverage scope, and data provenance
aboutServer info, capabilities, dataset statistics, and coverage summary

International Law Integration Tools (5)

ToolDescription
get_eu_basisGet international frameworks (EAC, AU, Commonwealth) that a Kenyan Act aligns with
get_kenyan_implementationsFind Kenyan laws implementing a specific international framework or convention
search_eu_implementationsSearch international documents with Kenyan alignment counts
get_provision_eu_basisGet international law references for a specific provision
validate_eu_complianceCheck alignment status of Kenyan laws against international standards

International Law Alignment

Kenya is not an EU member state. Kenyan law develops through its own constitutional and parliamentary framework, with international alignment through:

  • EAC (East African Community) -- EAC frameworks on trade, customs, data protection, and digital economy; EAC Data Protection Framework
  • African Union (AU) -- Malabo Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection; AU frameworks on digital economy and governance
  • Commonwealth -- Commonwealth legal traditions and model laws; Commonwealth Cyber Declaration
  • UN Conventions -- UNCAC (anti-corruption), Convention on the Rights of the Child, ICCPR, and international human rights instruments

The international bridge tools allow you to explore these alignment relationships -- checking which Kenyan provisions correspond to EAC or AU requirements, and vice versa.

Note: International cross-references reflect alignment and framework relationships, not direct transposition. Kenya develops its own legislative approach, and the alignment tools help identify where Kenyan and international law address similar domains.


Data Sources & Freshness

All content is sourced from authoritative Kenyan legal databases:

  • kenyalaw.org -- Kenya Law (National Council for Law Reporting + Kenya Law Reform Commission; primary source)
  • Kenya Gazette -- Official government gazette for subsidiary legislation and amendments

Data Provenance

FieldValue
AuthorityRepublic of Kenya / National Council for Law Reporting
Primary sourcekenyalaw.org (Kenya Law)
LanguagesEnglish (official language), Swahili (national language)
CoverageActs of Parliament (494+ target; ingestion in progress)
Last ingestedIn progress

Automated Freshness Checks

A GitHub Actions workflow monitors data sources for changes:

CheckMethod
Act amendmentsDrift detection against known provision anchors
New ActsComparison against kenyalaw.org Act index
Repealed ActsStatus change detection

Verified data only -- every citation validated against official sources. Zero LLM-generated content.


Security

This project uses multiple layers of automated security scanning:

ScannerWhat It DoesSchedule
CodeQLStatic analysis for security vulnerabilitiesWeekly + PRs
SemgrepSAST scanning (OWASP top 10, secrets, TypeScript)Every push
GitleaksSecret detection across git historyEvery push
TrivyCVE scanning on filesystem and npm dependenciesDaily
Socket.devSupply chain attack detectionPRs
DependabotAutomated dependency updatesWeekly

See SECURITY.md for the full policy and vulnerability reporting.


Important Disclaimers

Legal Advice

THIS TOOL IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE

Statute text is sourced from kenyalaw.org (National Council for Law Reporting). However:

  • This is a research tool, not a substitute for professional legal counsel
  • Court case coverage is not included -- do not rely solely on this for case law research
  • Verify critical citations against primary sources for court filings
  • International cross-references reflect alignment relationships, not direct transposition
  • Ingestion is in progress -- verify coverage before relying on search results for production use
  • Swahili-language versions -- where Acts exist in Swahili, verify text against official Kenya Gazette publications

Before using professionally, read: DISCLAIMER.md | SECURITY.md

Client Confidentiality

Queries go through the Claude API. For privileged or confidential matters, use on-premise deployment.

Bar Association

For professional legal use in Kenya, consult guidance from the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) regarding professional obligations and confidentiality requirements.


Development

Setup

bash
git clone https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/kenya-law-mcp
cd kenya-law-mcp
npm install
npm run build
npm test

Running Locally

bash
npm run dev                                       # Start MCP server
npx @anthropic/mcp-inspector node dist/index.js   # Test with MCP Inspector

Data Management

bash
npm run ingest              # Ingest Acts from kenyalaw.org
npm run build:db            # Rebuild SQLite database
npm run drift:detect        # Run drift detection against anchors
npm run check-updates       # Check for amendments and new Acts
npm run census              # Generate coverage census

Performance

  • Search Speed: <100ms for most FTS5 queries
  • Database Size: Growing (target ~30-50 MB on full ingestion)
  • Reliability: 100% ingestion success rate

Related Projects: Complete Compliance Suite

This server is part of Ansvar's Compliance Suite -- MCP servers that work together for end-to-end compliance coverage:

@ansvar/eu-regulations-mcp

Query 49 EU regulations directly from Claude -- GDPR, AI Act, DORA, NIS2, MiFID II, eIDAS, and more. Full regulatory text with article-level search. npx @ansvar/eu-regulations-mcp

@ansvar/us-regulations-mcp

Query US federal and state compliance laws -- HIPAA, CCPA, SOX, GLBA, FERPA, and more. npx @ansvar/us-regulations-mcp

@ansvar/security-controls-mcp

Query 261 security frameworks -- ISO 27001, NIST CSF, SOC 2, CIS Controls, SCF, and more. npx @ansvar/security-controls-mcp

70+ national law MCPs covering Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Ireland, Japan, Malawi, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, UK, and more.


Contributing

Contributions welcome! See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

Priority areas:

  • Ongoing Act ingestion from kenyalaw.org (expanding corpus)
  • Court case law expansion (High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court)
  • EAC framework cross-reference mapping
  • AU Malabo Convention alignment analysis
  • Historical Act versions and amendment tracking

Roadmap

  • Server infrastructure and tools
  • Vercel Streamable HTTP deployment
  • npm package publication
  • Core legislation ingestion (Data Protection Act, Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, Employment Act, Companies Act)
  • Full kenyalaw.org corpus (494+ Acts)
  • Court case law (High Court, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court)
  • Historical Act versions (amendment tracking)
  • EAC regulatory cross-references
  • Subsidiary legislation (Legal Notices, statutory instruments)

Citation

If you use this MCP server in academic research:

bibtex
@software{kenya_law_mcp_2026,
  author = {Ansvar Systems AB},
  title = {Kenya Law MCP Server: AI-Powered Legal Research Tool},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://github.com/Ansvar-Systems/kenya-law-mcp},
  note = {Kenyan Acts of Parliament sourced from kenyalaw.org (National Council for Law Reporting)}
}

License

Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE for details.

Data Licenses

  • Statutes & Legislation: Republic of Kenya / National Council for Law Reporting (open access via kenyalaw.org)
  • International Framework Metadata: EAC / AU / Commonwealth (public domain)

About Ansvar Systems

We build AI-accelerated compliance and legal research tools for the global market. This MCP server started as our internal reference tool -- turns out everyone building for the Kenyan or East African market has the same research frustrations.

So we're open-sourcing it. Navigating Kenya's Acts of Parliament shouldn't require a law degree.

ansvar.eu -- Stockholm, Sweden


Learn More