Johnston Busingye, the Minister for Justice and Attorney General, has urged visiting Kenyan officials to consider abolishing the death penalty in their country.

"I have never regretted since we abolished the capital punishment. I wish it would be the case for your country as it brings more benefits than dealing with petitions from people appealing for mercy after being sentenced to death,” the minister told the delegation in Kigali on Tuesday.

The delegation is comprised of members of the Power of Mercy Advisory Committee (POMAC) of Kenya.

"When you think about how to kill a human being, it also becomes a big challenge since human life is sacred,” Busingye stated.

He further told the delegation that abolishing the death sentence in Rwanda’s penal code has tremendously contributed to restorative justice. Rwanda abolished the death penalty in 2007.

"After the 1994 Genocide, our capacity to try those who were charged had become too low. If we maintained the death sentence, with Gacaca cases would have put over half-a-million people on the death row. Imagine someone signing for such a number of people to be hanged or executed and what would remain in minds of the people?

"That is how we thought about a system that would help us embrace justice, involving the community and promoting the unity of Rwandans instead of putting convicts on the death row,” he said.

Regina Saira Boisabi, the vice chairperson of POMAC, noted that there is a difference between the Rwandan justice and mercy systems and those of Kenya.

"For us, we still have the death penalty and have many convicts in prisons, while Rwanda is decongesting prisons. We hope that our visit will leave us equipped with knowledge in terms of exercise of power of mercy and system of justice.”

The Kenyan delegation, which is on a one-week study tour, will visit different justice and correctional services, and the Kigali Genocide Memorial to learn about the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

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