Petty offenders in Kenya may soon get a clean slate if a new legislative proposal sails through Parliament.
The Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Bill, 2024, fronted by Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, seeks to expunge the criminal records of individuals convicted of minor offences once they have completed their sentences.
If passed, the law would effectively erase such records from police files, removing a major barrier to jobs, education and social reintegration.
Babu argues that branding reformed petty offenders for life denies them dignity and opportunity.
“Numerous Kenyan youth suffer from a similar predicament, whereby they are unable to secure employment due to their previous convictions and tainted police clearance certificates,” he told the National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee.
“Let’s give our youth a second chance by considering enactment of this law.”
Currently, even those who have paid fines or served jail terms must still present police clearance certificates that flag past convictions, effectively shutting them out of opportunities where such vetting is mandatory.
“Once someone has served their sentence, they should not be punished again. Yet when they try to get a job, their past follows them,” Babu said.
The proposed law would exclude capital crimes such as murder, rape, incest, treason, sodomy and robbery with violence.
Instead, it targets misdemeanours and minor offences that, under the current system, remain on record indefinitely.
Babu said Kenyan law currently offers no express provision for expunging such records, nor does the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) have statutory discretion to delete them unless a conviction is overturned on appeal.
His proposal borrows from South Africa’s model, where petty offenders can have their records erased after demonstrating reform.
The Bill has drawn warm support from members of the committee. Ol Jorok MP Michael Muchira called it “a step toward restorative justice”.
“Even God is a God of second chances. Once these people serve their jail terms, we should not subject them to double jeopardy,” he said.
Ruaraka MP Tom Kajwang suggested adding a grace period of two to three years before records are expunged to allow for proof of rehabilitation.
He also proposed extending the benefits to minors and juvenile offenders.
If adopted, the law could open doors long shut for thousands of Kenyans, especially the youth, who have been trapped in the shadow of petty mistakes.
For them, it would be more than a legal amendment; it would be a chance to rewrite their future, free from the weight of their past.
