Mr. Wilfred Nderitu was on 3rd August 2017 elected as the Vice Chairperson of the National Council on the Administration of Justice Committee on Criminal Justice Reforms (NCCJR) at the...
Conference addresses Discriminatory Petty Offences in Africa
ACJR participated in the 8th Annual Conference of the Pan African Lawyers Union Seminar focusing on Initiatives for the Decriminalisation and Declassification of Petty Offences in Africa held in Durban,...
Kenyans are still oppressed by archaic colonial laws
It’s been 54 years since Kenya got her independence and yet there are still a number of archaic, colonial and discriminatory laws on the statute books. From archival research I...
Govt on the spot as women languish in jail over petty offenses
An audit report in Kenya’s criminal justice system paints a tragic picture on women access to justice. It portrays state organs as the worst enemy of Kenyan women and reveals...
Offences that keep Nairobi County Court busy
By Josphat Thio'go It’s Monday morning and City Hall is once again a beehive of activity after the weekend break. People are pacing up and down to pay bills or...
Kenya Chief Justice – Committee on Criminal Justice Reform (NCCJR)
Following the national conference on decriminalization and re-classification of petty offences held in Nairobi in March 2017, and further to research findings from the audit of the criminal justice system...
ACHPR/Res. 366 (EXT.OS/XX1) 2017
The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Commission), meeting at its 21st Extraordinary Session held from 23 February to 4 March 2017 in Banjul, The Gambia; Recalling its...
Poverty is not a crime: Decriminalise and declassify petty offences
06 Feb 2017 | by Melody Kozah, African Policing Civilian Oversight Forum (APCOF) People living in poverty and on the margins of society have been, and continue to be, disproportionately...
Decriminalisation of petty offences
May 5, 2017 By NLM Reporter Criminalisation of petty offences in Kenya has, over time, provided a basis for gross violation of the human rights of poor and vulnerable populations,...
Kenya National Assembly Official Record (Hansard) Sep 30 – Dec 11, 1986
Hansard Record on Google Books
Experts call for decriminalisation and reclassification of petty offences
by ODHIAMBO ORLALE · April 13, 2017 A new study on petty offences shows a link between poverty, corruption and increase in the number of inmates in remand homes and...
Addressing Petty Offences in Kenya: Which Way Forward?
Victor Kapiyo[1] Petty offences are generally understood to be lesser criminal acts which attract less severe punishment. This is because they are considered to be of a lower level of...
Chief Justice David Maraga Reveals the Day Police Arrested Him in Nakuru Town
By Benjamin Muriuki. Maraga revealed that at the time he was a student and was nabbed by police in Nakuru town for allegedly loitering. The Chief Justice was speaking...
Remove criminal sanctions for petty offenders – ICJ
By JOSEPH NDUNDA, The International Commission of Jurists on Thursday called for a review of laws to remove criminal sanctions on petty offenders. They want frivolous charges against hawkers, touts,...
National Conference on Decriminalization and Re-Classification of Petty Offences in Africa 30.03.2017
Following the conclusion of the policy research on petty offences and practices affecting populations at National Level and in Kisumu, Mombasa and Nairobi county levels, ICJ Kenya alongside its national...
“Rogues” and “Vagabonds” No More: Ending Africa’s Imperial Legacy of Absurd Petty Offenses
By Louise Ehlers At 3 a.m. one March morning, Mayeso Gwanda, an informal trader, left his home in Blantyre, Malawi, and traveled to the nearby Limbe market. He carried with...
Malawi: Challenging Constitutionality of Rogue and Vagabond Offence
In March 2015, the applicant was arrested by police whilst on his way to the market where he works as a street vendor. He was charged with the offence of...
Moi, Mayeso Gwanda, j’ai fait invalider une loi coloniale vieille de 192 ans qui terrorisait le Malawi
"Il faut maintenant débarrasser l'Afrique d’autres lois similaires." Ce témoignage de Mayeso Gwanda, vendeur à Blantyre, au Malawi, a été recueilli par l'Open Society Foundations, un réseau de fondations créé...
Petty offences chocking the justice system, audit reveals
By Paul Muhoho The criminal justice system is jammed with less serious offences that contribute to unnecessary delay in prosecutions and congestion in detention centres, a special audit reveals. The...
Gwanda: Vendor who changed the law
Lawmakers have moved at a snail's pace to change some draconian laws and history will record that it took a vendor to get the Constitutional Court to invalidate a section...
No more ‘Vakabu’ offence, Malawi court rules Rogue and vagabond law ‘unconstitutional’
The High Court in Blantyre has ruled that rogue and vagabond offence is unconstitutional. The determination was made by a panel of three judges comprising High Court judges Zione Ntaba,...
Somali Association of South Africa v Limpopo Department of Economic Development, Environment and Tourism (48/2014) ZASCA 143 (26 September 2014).
Summary: Asylum seekers and refugees’ entitlement to apply for licences to trade in spaza and tuck-shops – no blanket prohibition against self-employment either in terms of the Constitution or applicable...
Demystifying Petty Offences
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06sF9IW2E2M K24's Ian Wafula takes a look at Human rights violations in regards to petty offences, challenges and understanding your rights. Lorraine Ochiel (ICJ Kenya), Kimani Waweru (City and Street...
Kenya’s anti-gay laws lead to harassment, LGBT persons say, want change
By LYDIA MATATA, @lydiamatata. Activist and musician Joji Baro (George Barasa) hides his shoulder-length hair under a grey mavin. The 25 year-old likes to put make-up on his delicate face...
More petty offenders to be released after presidential pardon
By SIMON NDONGA, NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 21 – More petty offenders are set to be released on Friday after President Uhuru Kenyatta pardoned 7,000 inmates who were about to finish...
Freed petty offenders back in police custody
Two petty offenders released last week on Presidential pardon are back in police custody on suspicions of committing fresh crimes. The two — one from Nyeri and the other from...
President Kenyatta releases 7,000 petty offenders
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday made good his promise and released 7,000 petty offenders in what he said was a move to free up space in jail to accommodate government...
Sex workers trained as paralegals protect colleagues from police harassment
By LYDIA MATATA, @lydiamatata. Esther served a three-month jail sentence when she began sex work aged 16. Unable to produce any identification documents, she was arrested with other sex workers...
Hawkers Diaries: Tale of suffering and years of deceit
By JOSEPH MURAYA, NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 17 – It is survival of the fittest for the hundreds of hawkers operating within Nairobi – mostly those within the Central Business District-...
Hawkers Diaries: I paid my way through college as a street vendor yet here I remain
By JOSEPH MURAYA, NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 21- Before we started our interview with Samson Mwangi at his hawking base of operations, he was very categorical that we must first help...
Hawkers Diaries: I quit being a hawker after my friend was killed
By JOSEPH MURAYA, NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 18 – For three years Mbugua (not his real name) doubled as a street hawker in Nairobi and a student of the University of...
Kenyans living with mental illness get lost in the criminal justice system
By LYDIA MATATA. Samuel Macharia Njoroge, 42, refers to his earlier years as the dark ages. “This is a period that I faced a lot of hardship and stigma while...
Decriminalisation of Vagrancy Laws in Malawi
The goals of the project include law reform initiatives aimed at the decriminalisation and/or declassification of minor nuisance-related offences in Malawi and the region; and the reduction in human rights...
Meeting with Hawkers
ICJ Kenya held a forum to engage with hawkers on the decriminalization and declassification of petty crimes. This was informed by their recent subjection to cruel and inhuman treatment by...
Drama as Nairobi Hawker Ducks Under Matatu to Avoid Arrest by City Askaris
A Nairobi hawker on Monday opted to hide under a matatu to avoid arrest by City Inspectorate askaris. In a video doing the rounds on social media, the woman is seen...
City hawker ducks under matatu to evade arrest by city askaris
By NAIROBI NEWS REPORTER A journalist has captured a heart melting moment when a woman hawking onions in the city centre dives under a matatu to escape arrest by city...
KTN Documentary Exposes Nairobi Askari Violations
KTN News recently aired the a four part series of an investigative documentary on how the Nairobi County Government Askaris extort, arrest, harass, maim and inhumanely treat hawkers. According to the...
Why is Nairobi County Government allowing ‘Kanjo’ askaris to get away with human rights abuses?
By Daisy Okoti. Kenya’s leading investigative journalists, Muhammed Ali and John Alan Namu recently unveiled a disturbing series of the inhumane treatment in which hawkers in Nairobi suffer at the...
Petty Offences
The Ouagadougou Declaration and Plan of Action on Accelerating Prison and Penal Reform in Africa of 2003[1] endorsed recommendations calling for reducing the size of prison populations in Africa. The...
Key Concepts of Petty Offences
Bail: The temporary release of an accused person from prison pending trial, sometimes on condition that a sum of money be paid to the Court to guarantee the accused persons...
Time to give street families a chance, not judge
NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 2 – It is a tale of untold suffering when you have to live on a day-to-day basis with the normal life challenges while you are still...
Short Survey on Laws Criminalizing Petty Offences in National Jurisdictions across Africa
Dear Esteemed Colleagues,The Pan African Lawyers Union, in collaboration with a consortium of Civil Society Organisations*, is conducting a survey on criminalisation and penalisation of petty offences across Africa. These...
Arrests for petty offences
The ICCPR guarantees everyone the equal enjoyment of civil and political rights in the Covenant,[1] the right to liberty and security of person,[2] and not to be subjected to arbitrary...
SOUTH AFRICA: Police Target and Shuts Down Refugees Shops
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mihfRxJd2V0 By Jama Judah. "About 10 of us were supported by that shop," he said. "We're being fed by the community, through the mosque, but we need help." JOHANNESBURG, Police...
Hawker shot dead by Nairobi City Council askari
By Cyrus Ombati. NAIROBI, KENYA: A hawker was Tuesday night shot dead and two others wounded in a confrontation with City Council askaris along Tom Mboya Street in Nairobi. The...
Outdated vagrancy laws must go
ByLouise Ehlers | July 22nd, 2013 Data gathered during the audit of pre-trial detainees in Malawi suggests that the yearly exposure of the population to prison on remand could be...