• Mutua said such a sentence is legally inconsistent with the Constitution of Kenya.
• Mutua's remarks come a day after the High Court sentenced Joseph 'Jowie' Irungu to death over the murder of businesswoman Monica Kimani.
Image: FILE
Azimio spokesperson Makau Mutua now says that the death penalty has no place, in any modern society.
In a statement on Thursday, Mutua said such a sentence is legally inconsistent with the Constitution of Kenya.
He said such a sentence should also not be imposed on anyone, regardless of the offence one has committed.
"The death penalty has no place in any modern society. It’s jurisprudentially inconsistent with the logic, values, and legal philosophy that undergirds Kenya’s 2010 Constitution."
"No court should ever impose such an irreversible penalty on any offender in Kenya, no matter the heinousness of the crime, or how despicable and depraved the felon," Mutua said.
He added that the penalty does not discourage or stop future killers and that it does not have any benefit to society.
He further described it as a vengeful sentence.
"Degrees of savagery, depravity, or heartlessness do not vacate the moral, practical, and philosophical indefensibility of the death penalty and its finality. Nor does the death penalty bring back the victim or deter future killers.
"It’s vengeful and without redemption or any single benefit to society. An eye for eye makes the entire society blind."
Mutua's remarks come a day after the High Court sentenced Joseph 'Jowie' Irungu to death over the murder of businesswoman Monica Kimani.
Justice Grace Nzioka of the High Court in Milimani made the pronouncement on Wednesday.
“I therefore order that the first accused person being Joseph Kuria Irungu alias Jowie, shall suffer death as provided for the offence of murder under section 204 of the penal code of Kenya unless that sentence is set aside by a court of competent jurisdiction,” Justice Nzioka said.
Monica Kimani, who was brutally killed on the night of September 19, 2018, at her Lamuria Gardens apartment in Nairobi.
The judgement came after the court found Jowie guilty of Kimani's murder.
Justice Nzioka in February said the prosecution had proven beyond reasonable doubt that Jowie murdered Monica Kimani.
"Having considered the evidence in this matter it is the finding of this court that the prosecution has adduced adequate evidence and has met the threshold... It is the finding of this court that the first accused person murdered the deceased," Justice Grace Nzioka ruled.
Jowie’s sentencing was initially set for Friday, March 8, but was pushed to Wednesday.