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{
    "id": 555446,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/555446/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 203,
    "type": "other",
    "speaker_name": "",
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    "speaker": null,
    "content": "and those that buttress our sovereignty, we need to pass this Transfer of Prisoners Bill because we must always be aware of where Kenyans are be it in jail or outside this country. This Bill has given us a structure through legal representatives of people serving jail terms abroad or through the office of the Attorney-General we can make applications to foreign countries to ask that Kenyans serving jail sentences in those countries be brought back to complete their jail terms here. This is a comprehensive Bill because its objective as set out in Part 1 on preliminaries at Section 2, among other things, is to enable prisoners to serve their sentences of imprisonment in the countries of their nationality or in countries where they have community ties. In other words, somebody will go outside this country, get on the wrong side of the law and be arrested. He or she will be tried and jailed in that country. Notwithstanding the fact that the person may have been found guilty, the rights of that prisoner do not diminish at the point of his imprisonment. Therefore, what we are saying in this Bill is that the person who has been arrested outside this jurisdiction and jailed has a spouse, children, grandparents and businesses. Therefore, it isonly fair for that person to be brought here to serve the remainder of the sentence. This law also allows that when that person is brought back to this country then the laws of this country can be used to pardon him to commute the sentence and do all that appertains to a prisoner who is serving such a sentence in Kenya. Hon. Speaker, this Bill shows how an application ought to be done. The applications to have Kenyans abroad to come and serve their sentences here can be done by a legal representative of the inmate or the person in prison. The Attorney-General can also do an application to ask for that person who has been jailed outside to be brought back. For instance, I am aware there are Kenyans who have been serving their jail sentences in Tanzania. This law will enable the Attorney-General to make an application to the Attorney- General of the Republic of Tanzania and ask that a person serving a sentence there be brought here. When that application is done, the Attorney-General will consult the Cabinet Secretary (CS), for instance the CS in charge of Immigration, and seek to know whether that CS has any interest in the person serving that jail term. Once the two institutions agree that that person should come and serve the sentence here and that the offence that that person committed out there is also an offence in Kenya, by consent a warrant is issued for that person to be brought to serve that sentence here. However, we also know that there are people who would not like to come and serve their sentences here for various reasons. For instance, when we had political prisoners, a person jailed outside would not have wanted to come and serve the sentence here for obvious reasons. Therefore, the consent of the person serving a sentence out there is required so that we know that they are, indeed, interested in coming to complete their sentences in Kenya. The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}