KENYA. NATIONAL COMMISSION CALLS FOR ABOLITION OF DEATH PENALTY

April 18, 2007: Parliament should take urgent steps to abolish the death penalty in Kenya. It should freeze all current death sentences and transfer convicts on the death row to life imprisonment, through a Presidential declaration.
These are the recommendation of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights, in its new Position Paper number 2 of 2007.
The commission wants Parliament to amend all laws that currently permit the death penalty. These are sections 204, 40(3), 296(2) of the Penal Code, Cap 63 of the Laws of Kenya, the Criminal Procedure Code, Cap 75 of the Laws of Kenya, and other statutory provisions linked to capital punishment and the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of Kenya.
The KNCHR is a public body established in 2002 with an independent mandate of enhancing the promotion and the protection of all human rights, besides advising the Government on the same.
In its position paper, it calls for an end to the death penalty to improve protection of the basic right to life, and freedom from torture, cruel and degrading treatment. (Sources: The Nation, 18/04/2007)