By Debra Rono
On Wednesday morning, Lady Justice Grace Nzioka delivered her sentencing on the murder of businesswoman Monica Kimani who was killed in September of 2018. The suspect in this murder, Joseph Irungu alias Jowie was found guilty of the act and sentenced to death.
This sentencing has evoked mixed reactions among Kenyans who for a long time knew that the death penalty in Kenya is illegal. Some individuals are concerned about the ethical dilemma surrounding the deliberate killing of a person by the state on behalf of the people.
Death sentencing simply means to be hanged. However, no death execution in Kenya has been executed since 1987, such sentences most times were commuted to life sentences but they don’t qualify for pardons and Parole.
The last death penalty by hanging in Kenya was carried out in 1987 when Hezekiah Ochuka and Pancras Oteyo were sentenced to death for attempting to overthrow former President Moi’s government in 1982.
This therefore means that Jowie will probably be locked up in a maximum prison, prohibited from working as it is intended for their rehabilitation, but those facing execution are not expected to be reformed. He will probably be spending most of the day confined, lacking productive tasks, separated from loved ones, and receiving poor meals waiting for his fate.
Jowie however has a right to file an appeal to challenge his sentencing.
In 2009 the then president of Kenya Mwai Kibaki pardoned 4000 inmates of their death penalties and changed them to life imprisonment, former president Uhuru Kenyatta did the same in 2016 revoking the death sentences of 2,747 inmates changing them to life imprisonment.
Out of the 54 countries in Africa, 17 are referred to as “de facto abolitionist” states. This means that such countries have not carried out the death penalty in 10 years and Kenya is among these nations.
Capital punishment as a legal penalty in Kenya, was introduced in Kenya in 1893 by the British colonial government and is still provided for under Kenyan law. The constitution of Kenya provides for the right to life except for a sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offence under the law of Kenya of which he has been convicted.
The death penalty only applies to the offences of murder, and offences relating to death like robbery with violence and treason.
In 2017 the Supreme Court declared the mandatory nature of the death penalty unconstitutional, leading to the creation of the Taskforce on the Review of the Mandatory Death Sentence.
The task force in their final report revealed that the Supreme Court did not abolish the death sentence in December 2017 but rather gave courts the discretion of sentencing similar cases on an individual basis. Speaking on behalf of the Attorney General, the Secretary for Justice and Constitutional Affairs Mrs. MaryAnn Njau-Kimani stated that there is a need for members of the public to be enlightened that the death penalty is still in existence.