The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has joined calls to abolish the death sentence for being cruel and inhumane.
“It represents an unacceptable denial of human dignity and integrity and its irrevocable nature could lead to great injustice where it is inflicted on innocent people,” chairperson Kagwiria Mbogori said.
Mbogori said KNCHR will continue to engage partners to ensure that the government realises its international obligations with regards to the abolition of the punishment.
She spoke during an expert’s workshop on assessing public attitude towards the death sentence in Kenya, organised by UN Human rights office and the Power of Mercy Advisory Committee.
The workshop is aimed at helping Pomac in its quest for public views on how Kenyans would want the capital offenders in Kenya be handled or whether the death punishment should be abolished.
Mbogori said the commission conducted a survey among death row inmates and their families to determine the effects of the sentence in 2011.
In it they found an urgent need to address capital punishment.
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“KNCHR found that the death penalty has severe physical and psychological impacts on inmates, possibly amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment under international law,” she said
The death penalty debate remains a controversial subject worldwide, eliciting a lot of emotion and questions and Kenyans are sharply divided over whether courts should hand death sentence to capital offenders.
At the core of the debate is for instance questions on whether the death penalty has any deterrent value and whether it is necessary to satisfy society’s desire for retribution.
Kenyans are also divided on whether death row inmates should or can be rehabilitated, whether it is worth the cost and the risk of executing the innocent- particularly in criminal justice systems that are fraught with error and discrimination.
There is also the question as to whether the death penalty is a cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment.
Proponents of the death penalty say it is an important tool for preserving law and order, deters crime, and costs less than life imprisonment.
They argue that retribution or "an eye for an eye" honors the victim, helps console grieving families, and ensures that the perpetrators of heinous crimes never have an opportunity to cause future tragedy.
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But those who oppose the death sentence hold that while it remains the prerogative of every state to decide the kind of penalties are applicable for each offence, there has been a global advocacy towards the abolition of the death sentence.
Discussions around abolition have shifted the paradigm of the death penalty from a domestic penal sanction discussion to a human rights issue.
Incidentally, judges Jessie Lesiit, Luka Kimaru and Stella Mutuku on September 15 declined to declare death sentence as punishment unconstitutional and inhumane.
“Death sentence is not a cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. However, it just cannot be meted to any person convicted of a capital offence,” they said.
They explained that not all convicts of capital offenses should be handed the ultimate sentence.
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