It’s time to implement the death penalty

The debate over the death penalty has for some time been relegated to the backburner for reasons best known to authorities. Proponents and opponents of the same are divided down the middle. The opponents allege that death penalty is against the Bill of Rights which gives each and every individual the right to life. They also argue this sentence does not have a deterrent effect, does not rehabilitate and that it’s savage, beastly and inhuman.

Proponents on the other hand argue that the principle of just desserts compels a life to repay with another, an eye for an eye a tooth for a tooth school. They also argue that death penalty will incapacitate permanently these psychos some of whom are responsible for multiple murders.

The Kenyan Penal Code Section 25 outlines death as one of the sentences that may be passed for capital offences. It states, “(1)Where any person is sentenced to death, the form of the sentence shall be to the effect only that he is to suffer death in the manner authorized by law. (2)Sentence of death shall not be pronounced on or recorded against any person convicted of an offence if it appears to the court that at the time when the offence was committed he was under the age of eighteen years, but in lieu thereof the court shall sentence such person to be detained during the President’s pleasure, and if so sentenced he shall be liable to be detained in such place and under such conditions as the President may direct, and whilst so detained shall be deemed to be in legal custody.”

Since 1987, Kenya has not carried out a single execution despite savagery and beastly crimes committed since. We instead put these psychos in condemned cells, over feed them, commute their sentences to life imprisonment and eventually release them back to the society to mock their victims.

The hangmen in our prisons are idle and have now become rusty, the dexterity of tightening a noose having deserted them after years of inaction. It’s time we let them earn their pay. The tax payer is being shortchanged.

In America, a liberal democracy, 31 states still practice the death penalty only 21 have abolished it. The US government and military are among those which carry out the death penalty. Although methods vary from state to state from lethal injection or gas to firing squad, hanging or electrocution.

To imagine that you will treat a felon who commits larceny the same as the one who cuts out the tongues of his victims, crushes their testicles, and gouges their eyes out and proceeds to dismember the bodies is absurd and unfair. This is a creature who won’t find company even among the most savage of beasts. He/she is a misfit, a testament of creation gone wrong who should be exterminated with speed to ensure he does not pollute the human race.

Anyone who does not value the life of another does not also value his own life. Why should we value his? It will be a welcome break if we make grand corruption (theft of over 1 billion shillings) a capital offence. Ask China how they deal with the corrupt.