KENYA: Debate death-row pardons

Assistant Justice Minister Njeru Githae says that, in keeping with international trends, the Government proposes a general amnesty for death-row convicts who have served 20 years or more.

Humane as that stand is, it is bound to excite a passionate debate in this country - especially at a time when violent crime appears to be on the rise.

Kenyans would do well to debate this matter openly. There is a measure of justice imposed with a sledgehammer in the case of, for example, robbery with violence, which automatically earns a convict the death sentence even where no one died. One might also argue that capital punishment has not deterred violence and murder over the centuries.

But there is also the question of appeasing the victims of crime, who want to see justice done if they are to be at ease with themselves and the law enforcement system.

It is important that this matter be debated, not only to enable us to buy into the idea of doing away with capital punishment in our statutes, but also to get a consensus on alternative forms of justice.

As things stand, there are over 2,000 death-row inmates, the majority awaiting appeal. This is a huge drain on State coffers, even though the conditions inside are deplorable.

There have been no hangings in recent times, moreover, giving all the appearances of a problem deferred rather than resolved. Either way, it does not serve the ends of justice to have so many people living in the twilight world that is death-row.

In recent times, the President has pardoned some 28 prisoners and Minister Moody Awori has attempted to bring a human touch to the prisoners in for a long haul.

But all these are temporary solutions. What we are looking for is a hard-nosed search for policies and laws to deal with the core problem once and for all.

Plan to release death row prisoners

A general amnesty could see all death row convicts who have served 20 years or more in jail awaiting the noose released, a Government minister has announced.

The Government was considering the amnesty, along with the formal abolition of the death penalty, said Assistant Minister for Justice Njeru Githae.

Instead, the death penalty would be replaced by life imprisonment, he said.

Capital punishment was "unjust" and should be done away with, said Mr Githae, who had just returned from Rome, where he attended a conference on the death penalty.

He was speaking in Kirinyaga, Central Kenya, on Sunday during a funds drive in aid of a local Catholic church.

The Narc MP for Ndia said that in this year's report released in Italy, the Government had been commended for being at the forefront of the fight against hanging.

The new Constitution would do away with the Hanging Act, he said.

President Kibaki pardoned 28 prisoners on death row in March. They had been waiting to be hanged at Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, Nairobi, after their final appeals had been dismissed.

The convicts who had served between 15 and 20 years in jail, were freed "in the spirit of reforms", announced Home Affairs minister Moody Awori.

Of the 3,584 Kenyans convicted of hanging offences between 1963 and 1987, a total 280 were hanged while 1,755 had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.

As at January 5, 2001, there were 1,923 inmates on death row, of whom 1,777 were waiting for their appeals to be heard, and 146 were awaiting execution. None has been hanged since.