Crimes that attract death penalty include murder, violent robbery, treason and military offences such as spying, mutiny and aiding the country’s enemy. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
At least 26 convicts were condemned to the hangman’s noose last year up from 11 in 2013, says Amnesty International—which has been pushing for a stop to killer sentences.
Death sentences in Kenya more than doubled last year, the fourth highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, a new report shows.
At least 26 convicts were condemned to the hangman’s noose last year up from 11 in 2013, says Amnesty International—which has been pushing for a stop to killer sentences.
Kenya, however, has not executed any convict in the past 28 years since 1987 and last month Attorney-General Githu Muigai said talks were on to do away with death sentences as part of UN Human Rights Council recommendation.
“Kenya has an established practice of not carrying out executions although it continues to impose death sentences,” the report says. Nigeria led the pack in sub-Saharan Africa with 659 death sentences, followed by Somalia (104) and Tanzania at 91.
The Kenyan government does not publish the number of prisoners on death row.
Crimes that attract death penalty include murder, violent robbery, treason and military offences such as spying, mutiny and aiding the country’s enemy, according to Kenya’s Penal Code.
But offenders below 18 years, pregnant women and the mentally ill are spared from death penalties.
Amnesty International, which is a global human rights watch, has over the years pushed for the scrapping of death penalty, saying it violates the right to life.
“Progress towards the abolition of the death penalty in the region (sub-Saharan Africa) was slow, with some setbacks recorded,” notes the report which was released last week. Uganda sentenced one convict to death penalty while Rwanda did not issue any.
A number of MPs last year rooted for the inclusion of terrorism, homosexuality, corruption and economic crimes in the list of crimes punishable by death, but the bid was struck down.
Last August, the National Assembly while amending the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act rejected the inclusion of the death penalty as a punishment under the Act.
The National Authority for Campaign against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada) boss John Mututho in June, following the death of more than 80 people after drinking illicit alcohol, unsuccessfully proposed an amendment to the Alcoholic Drinks Control Act to introduce death sentences for dealers of illicit brew.
Former President Mwai Kibaki in 2009 commuted the death sentences of all 4,000 prisoners on death row to life imprisonment.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
