Plan on to remove death penalty: AG

Kenyans will now have a say in the review of capital punishment as the government moves to comply with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on the death sentence, Attorney-General Githu Muigai has said.

Prof Muigai said Kenya had not executed a single criminal on death row in the past 30 years and was now in the process of coming up with alternative punishment for capital offences.

Kenyans will have the final say in what form of punishment capital offenders should be subjected to.

Prof Muigai, who spoke during the launch of Power of Mercy Advisory Committee (Pomac) strategic plan for 2015-2018 at the Serena Hotel, Nairobi said the government had committed itself to complying with the commission.

“We want to open dialogue on what Kenyans want and for this reason, I’m directing Pomac to begin a process to bring stakeholders together and open the debate.

Prof Muigai said the government was under obligation to review its human rights records and directed the mercy committee to engage Kenyans on how crimes that attract the death penalty should be handled.

“We want to have an open dialogue where Kenyans can give direction on the death sentence debate,” said the AG.

“The government cannot prejudge what people want on this. What I can confirm is that Kenya has not executed any convict since 1986,” said the AG.

During a committee meeting at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at Palais Wilson in Geneva where Prof Muigai represented Kenya in 2013, Kenya was taken to task over specific cases in which the country was seen to have failed to uphold the principles of the Convention against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.