- The president urged the pardoned inmates to be change makers in society while also offering confidence in the criminal justice system.
- Interior CS Fred Matiang’i said in April there was a plan to release 5,000 inmates beginning May.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has pardoned 3,908 inmates who were serving sentences of less than three months.
Uhuru was speaking during the 59th Madaraka Day fete where he granted the inmates a second chance.
“I, therefore, direct that their sentences be commuted by the end of next week in full compliance with all legal procedures and processes,” he said.
The release of the petty offenders and inmates is also in cognisance of their probation report.
The President urged the pardoned inmates to be change makers in society while also offering confidence in the criminal justice system.
“Reciprocate the generosity of your motherland through this act of mercy with a high sense of civic duty and service to your country,” he said.
Uhuru's acceptance to pardon the inmates is a response to petitioners in the justice and legal sector.
“In line with our commitment to restorative justice and reintegration of offenders; on the recommendation of the Power of Mercy Advisory Committee,” he added.
Interior CS Fred Matiang’i said in April there was a plan to release 5,000 inmates beginning May.
Matiang'i said it will run in tandem with the expansion of probation and after-service programme targeting the reintegration of the inmates.
The CS spoke during the launch of a training programme for newly recruited probation officers at the Kenya School of Government, Nairobi.
He said prisons are struggling with congestion that has been exacerbated by too many petty offenders.
“We don’t have the resources to keep the number of offenders that we have. Some we are keeping because of Sh600 fines for traffic offence. We are keeping some matatu violators who packed on a yellow line. Are we serious?” Matiang’i posed.
The CS said he hopes the offenders can be moved into the probation service programme in the next phase of the de-congestion campaign, between May and June.
Justice Cecilia Githua said since January, 3,000 inmates have been released from prisons to serve in community service.
The High Court judge chairs the Community Service Order National Committee that coordinates the probation services.
She said the prisons will release another 4,620 petty offenders beginning next month to de-congest the current population of 53,438 prisoners.
Of the number, 30,689 are convicts while 22,799 are inmates.
The Power of Mercy is an important authority conferred upon the President by the constitution and it entails granting pardon to reformed and rehabilitated convicted criminal offenders deserving early release from prison.
In 2022, the Power of the Mercy Advisory Committee said the number of petitions dropped from 206 in 2019/20 to 62 in 2021.
“The drop in petitions was occasioned by the significant number of long-serving convicts, who are by design the target of the Power of Mercy, that chose the court as the redress route, thereby locking themselves out of the petition process,” Attorney General Paul Kihara Kariuki, said in a report to Parliament at the time.
The Power of Mercy Advisory Committee is established pursuant to Article 133 of the constitution to advise the President on the exercise of Power of Mercy.