- They want MPs to amend Penal Code as directed by the Supreme Court
- Death row inmates are at the discretion of judges who decide their petitions
Image: FILE
For Christmas, death row inmates at the Shimo La Tewa prison in Mombasa want only one thing – certainty.
They want MPs to give them assurance that they will amend the Penal Code to abolish the death penalty as directed by the Supreme Court.
In 2017, the Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional and asked Parliament to amend the necessary law to conform to their ruling.
Speaking on Friday, the inmates, through the Kituo Cha Sheria, said the anxiety they feel not knowing how the judge will rule over their petition ‘kills them’.
An inmate only identified as Yusuf, who is a paralegal having been trained by Kituo Cha Sheria, said there was a lot of uncertainty in cases where they help put petitions in courts.
According to Kituo Cha Sheria’s Zedekiah Adika, currently death row inmates are at the discretion of judges who decide randomly whether to release or keep them in prison when they petition.
He said it would help calm the nerves of petitioners if there was certainty.
“This discretion may be beneficial to the offender but hurtful to the victim. We must look at both sides,” Adika said.
He cited a case in Mombasa in August where the judge released a death row convict from Shimo la Tewa who had been in jail for 21 years but who had been helped petition by paralegals.
Mike Obwoka was by then the chair of paralegals at Shimo la Tewa who was trained by Kituo Cha Sheria.
“The judge said he had read his file and released him,” said Adika.
He spoke on Friday at Shimo la Tewa Prison, men’s section, where 30 trained paralegals graduated.
Another 30 women prisoners have also been trained in the women section of the prison.
Kituo Cha Sheria has been running a programme called ‘Njia Za Haki’ in partnership with Amkeni Wakenya, a UNDP-affiliated organization supported by the European Union, to help enhance access to justice for the poor and the marginalised.
Adika said the prisoners also fall under the marginalised community.
“That is why we have been training the inmates to be paralegals so that they can help their colleagues get justice,” he said.
This year alone, paralegal inmates at Shimo la Tewa have helped their colleagues put up 103 petitions. Out of these, 65 have been successful.
“Most of those released have been death row and life sentence convicts,” said Adika.
He said the paralegals themselves are mostly those on death row and those serving life and long sentences.
The inmates are also working with Kituo Cha Sheria, the Ombudsman’s office and the IEBC seeking to have inmates allowed to vote for other leaders apart from the President.
Through the paralegals chair Dismas Omondi back in 2009, they successfully put an application in court to be allowed to vote in the 2010 referendum.
The petition also saw them allowed to vote for the presidential election in 2017.
However, they now want to be allowed to vote for even the Governor, MP, Senator and MCAs.
“We are a constituency here and we would like to exercise our right to vote for leaders,” Yusuf said.