President Uhuru Kenyatta has signed documents commuting all 2,747 death sentences to life imprisonment.
The signing at State House in Nairobi on Monday will see
2,655 male and 92 female convicts serve life sentences.
According to the 2014 Economic Survey Report released in April 2013, Kenyan courts are responsible for 32 per cent of all death sentences in the world.
The last commutation of death sentences was done in 2009 by former President Mwai Kibaki.
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Invoking the Power of Mercy provided for under Article 133 of the Constitution, Uhuru also signed a pardon warrant and released 102 convicts who were on
long-term sentences.
This followed a thorough vetting of the prisoners by the Power of Mercy Advisory Committee.
The Power of Mercy is a prerogative power conferred on the President by the constitution. It entails pardoning reformed convicts deserving early release from prison.
Uhuru was with State House Chief of Staff Joseph Kinyua, Interior CS Joseph Nkaissery, Chief Justice David Maraga,
Kenya Prisons Commissioner General Isaiah Osugo and AG Githu Muigai.
