Millie Odhiambo: Death penalty is inhumane and degrading

Suba North Member of Parliament Millie Odhiambo has termed the death sentence as degrading and inhumane.

Her comments come barely days after Miss Lang’ata Prison 2016 beauty pageant winner Ruth Kamande was sentenced to death for the murder of her boyfriend.

Speaking on Citizen TV’s morning show, Day Break, the legislator expressed her reservations about the punishment, saying it should be abolished.

“When we were discussing it at Bomas, I was one amongst very few who were calling for the abolition of the death penalty,” Millie told the show host, Fred Indimuli.

“I am the Chairperson of the Parliamentarians for Global Action in Kenya and we believe in the rule of law and human rights. And one of the things we’re working on this term is the abolition of the death penalty and we’re going to bring amendments to remove the death penalty in our books.”

The outspoken legislator further urged for the transition of all death sentences into life imprisonments, saying both penalties are equally enough punishment for a convict.

“This girl is so beautiful… she’s so young… she has lost her entire life; that is enough punishment, really,” she stated.

24-year-old Ruth Kamande was found guilty of stabbing Farid Mohammed 22 times in 2015 in Nairobi; an act Millie Odhiambo now says was a crime of passion and “in the heat of the moment.”

She urged young people to walk away from bad and abusive relationships to avoid such incidences.

“I would want to encourage young people; if you’re in a bad relationship… if someone is cheating on you, he’s not the only man on earth, walk away, other men will come; she’s still too young and beautiful, she would have found many more men,” said the MP.

Human Rights group Amnesty International has also protested the death sentence handed to the 24-year-old, saying it should be commuted to life imprisonment.

Delivering the sentence, High Court judge Jessie Lesiit said she handed the maximum punishment to deter young people from engaging in such offences.

The judge noted that, in stabbing her boyfriend 22 times, the accused “acted with clear intention to cause the deceased pain, suffering and death.”

“That is clear proof of malice, of spite, callousness and hatred,” ruled Justice Lessit.