Azimio To Sue William Ruto For Pardoning Ex KEMRI Boss Davy Koech, 36 Others: "We Don't Breed Impunity"

• Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party accused President William Ruto of breaking the law after pardoning 37 people
• According to lawyer Paul Mwangi, Ruto didn't follow the criteria and processes set out in the Power of Mercy Act, 2011
• Ruto pardoned 37 people, among them former Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) boss Davy Koech who had been jailed for six years

Nairobi - Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition Party has criticised the move by President William Ruto to pardon 37 convicts through the power of mercy.

The coalition's lawyer Paul Mwangi said it was wrong for the president to pardon people accused of committing capital offences.

“That list is full of people who have stolen, people who have robbed and people who have abused children, those are the people we have forgiven,” said Mwangi.

Azimio says William Ruto broke law

The opposition vowed to sue the president, accusing him of allegedly issuing the pardons without following due process and taking into consideration.

According to Mwangi, Ruto didn't follow the criteria and processes set out in the Power of Mercy Act, including looking at the offender's age and the circumstances surrounding the commission of the crime.

"One, for the criteria, is that you should have served at least a third of your sentence before your petition can be accepted; we have several instances on that list of people who had just started serving their sentences or have not gone anywhere near a third of the sentences, we have people who have committed very serious offences, and the seriousness of the offence itself is also a criterion,” he stated.

The opposition argued that it was wrong for Ruto to pardon convicts without granting victims a hearing, something they say would encourage the public to disregard the rule of law and encourage crime.

“We would want to establish that we don't breed impunity, and the way to do that is to ensure that these powers can never be abused and that they are used for the right reasons,” added the lawyer.

William Ruto pardons 37 people

Among those pardoned by the president is former Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) boss Davy Koech, who had been jailed for 6 six years over the KSh 19.3m graft case.

In a gazette notice by Attorney General Justin Muturi, the president pardoned the 37 under the Power of Mercy Act 2011 upon the recommendation of the Advisory Committee.

"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, upon the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on the Power of Mercy, granted the petitions of (the aforementioned)," the gazette notice read.

Koech was in 2021 found guilty of abuse of office on three counts of fraudulent acquisition of public property and was fined KSh 19.6 million or a six-year jail term.

The former KEMRI boss also lost an appeal where he contested the lower courts' findings that he irregularly transferred KSh 19.3 million held in the account of Vector Biological and Control Research (VBCR) to his accounts.