President William Ruto has pardoned Former Kenya Medical Research Insititute (KEMRI) Director Prof Davy Koech together with 37 other convicts pardoned.
Prof Koech was jailed for six years in September 2021 after the court found him guilty of corruptly acquiring Ksh.19.3 million.
The Anti- Corruption Court sentenced Koech after he failed to comply with court orders directing him to pay a fine of Ksh.19.6 million.
Koech faced three different charges of corruptly acquiring public property.
He was charged that on 17 August 2006, in Nairobi he fraudulently acquired Ksh800,000 property of Kemri.
In December12, 2006, he was convicted corruptly acquiring Ksh.6 million and charged with illegally acquiring Sh12.5million from KEMRI.
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Ruto on Death Penalty
In the gazette notice by the Attorney General Justin Muturi, the president also reduced the death sentence penalty to a life imprisonment.
Muturi stated that the recommendations by the Advisory Committee on the Power of Mercy would apply to all convicts sentenced to death as of November 21,2022.
“It is notified for the general information of the public that in the exercise of the powers conferred by Article 133 of the Constitution of Kenya and section 23 (1) of the Power of Mercy Act, 2011, the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces of the Republic of Kenya, commuted the death sentence imposed on every capital offender as at November 21, 2022, to a life sentence,” read part of the notice.
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Further, President Ruto pardoned 5,861 convicts who were serving minor sentences and based on their good conduct during their time of sentencing.
Also, the group consisted of 2,944 individuals who had been sentenced to jail terms of six months or less.
“The President upon the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on the Power of Mercy, remitted the unexpired portion of the respective sentences of 2917 long-term offenders who have sentence balances of six months and below to serve,” the notice read in part.
Article 133 of the Constitution allows the president to exercise a power of mercy in accordance with the advice of the Advisory Committee.
This power allows the president to grant free or conditional pardon, postpone punishments, substituting a less severe form of punishment or remitting all or part of a punishment.
