Chief Justice Martha Koome has presented two bills to parliament that seek to make changes in the penalties given to capital offenders.
The bills, Penal Code (Amendment) Bill 2023 and Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) 2023, seek to reduce the sentences of murderers, sex offenders, and those facing life in prison to 30 years.
Kenya’s current law, which was drafted in the 1930s by its former colony Britain, states that a person can be sentenced to death if found guilty of murder, robbery with violence, or treason.
Koome wants parliament to approve a change to Section 112A of the Penal Code in subsection (4) that replaces the word “manslaughter” with the words “second-degree murder.”
Section 4 of the Penal Code is known as the “principal act.”.
By amending the principal Act, Koome wants the deletion of sections 66, 153, 154, 155, 171, 173, 182, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199 and 200.
She also wants Sections 220 and 222 amended to remove the words “for life” and replace them with “for a period not exceeding thirty years.”
She also wants section 203 repealed and replaced with new guidelines on the degrees of murder.
Koome contended that a person commits first-degree murder if they cause the death of another person by committing, or attempting to commit, an unlawful act or omission, or committing malice.
Others are poisoning, causing grievous harm, or engaging in any other wilful, deliberate, malicious, and premeditated killing.
“…any arson, treason, escape, murder, kidnapping, abduction, torture, injury by explosive substances, terrorist act, espionage, sabotage, intimidation, molestation, sexual offence, child abuse, housebreaking, burglary, or robbery,” added Koome on the offences under first-degree murders.
The primary goal of this Bill, according to Koome, is to amend the Penal Code to include human-rights-friendly language in relation to people with intellectual and psychosocial disabilities.
“…to remove the subjection of children sentenced in lieu of death penalty from detention at the President’s pleasure; to shift the burden of proof for the offences of incitement to violence and disobedience from the accused person to the prosecution; and to repeal petty offences,” she said.
The Bill also seeks to amend the Penal Code to protect intersex people who are involved in the criminal justice system.
The main goal of the Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) 2023 Bill is to align the Criminal Procedure Code with the provisions of the Magistrate’s Courts Act, 2015, and to review the provisions governing the transfer of cases between magistrates.
It also seeks to shorten the operational period for suspended sentences and repeal all provisions relating to security for peacekeeping and good behaviour.
