General Power of Attorney in Kenya

 General Power of Attorney

Introduction

According to Black’s Law Dictionary, a Power of Attorney is “An instrument authorizing a person to act as the agent or attorney of the person granting it.”

A power of attorney is a legal instrument that gives authority for one person(principal/donor) to act on behalf of another (agent) should they become incapacitated. The agent should always act in the best interests of the principal. There are two types of powers of attorney:

1. General power of attorney and;

2.  Specific power of attorney.

General v Specific: A general Power of Attorney is drafted broadly to allow the Donee to make a wide range of decisions on behalf of the Donor. A specific Power of Attorney is narrowed to a defined scope of decisions that the Donee can make on behalf of the Donor.

Requirements

The requirements for a General power of attorney are:

● Full name and address of the principle/donor and agent;

● Must be properly signed and executed;

● Stamp duty has to be paid; [Section 5 & 6 of the Stamp Duty Act Cap 480]

● Must be registered under the Registration of Documents Act;

Where the power of attorney has been given to a company must be signed using the company seal; and where the power of attorney has been issued by a company the Memorandum and Articles of association of the company must be presented to show authorization of the POA.

REVOCATION OF A POWER OF ATTORNEY 

Revocation of a power of attorney is a legal document that revokes or cancels a power of attorney. This is therefore a written confirmation that a principle no longer needs the services of an agent. A principle at any time can revoke a power of attorney for a number of reasons, some of them being incapacity of the agent to perform his duties on behalf of the agent, death or incapacity of the agent. 

An irrevocable power of Attorney is a power of Attorney that cannot be revoked by the principal. A power of Attorney lapses for legal reasons (by operation of law) such as for incapacity or death. An irrevocable power of Attorney must say that it is irrevocable and it must be given for valuable consideration.

Feel free to ask if you have any more questions or need further details; Apollo Oduor & Associates Advocates; apollooduoradvocates@gmail.com ; Mobile:0732682015