President William Ruto has proposed the introduction of the death penalty for individuals engaging in drug trafficking.
Speaking on Saturday, January 3, Ruto said individuals involved in the sale of hard drugs should face the most severe punishment under the law.
"People who sell drugs; heroin, cocaine. Such a person should be sentenced to death," he said.
Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen echoed Ruto's concerns, warning that drug and alcohol abuse is destroying the country’s most productive population and undermining Kenya’s development goals.
"We cannot achieve our first world status if the most productive generation is being wiped out by drugs and alcohol," he stated.
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Notably, this comes weeks after three Kenya Airways employees were sentenced to 25 years in prison each for trafficking heroin valued at more than Ksh60 million.
In a statement released on Saturday, November 22, 2025, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) said the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) Court handed down the sentences to Lennox Chengek Chestit, a cabin crew member; Kenneth Sinzore Isundu, a ground staffer; and Alfric Odhiambo Otieno, also a cabin crew member.
In addition to the custodial sentences, each convict was ordered to pay substantial fines ranging between Ksh88 million and Ksh90 million.
Should they fail to pay the fines, they will serve an additional one-year sentence, to run concurrently with their main sentences.
The convictions arose from two separate counts of trafficking in narcotic drugs.
In the first count, Chestit and Isundu were found guilty of trafficking 9,845.70 grams of heroin valued at Ksh29,537,100.
In the second count, Otieno and Isundu were convicted of trafficking 20 kilograms of heroin worth Ksh60 million.
Senior Principal Magistrate Njeri Thuku directed that Isundu's sentences run concurrently, given his involvement in both counts.
The magistrate dismissed the convicts' appeals for non-custodial sentences, citing strict legal provisions governing drug-related offences.
"All three asked the court for a non-custodial sentence, but the court is bound by the Community Service Orders Act. Drug trafficking offences do not fit the parameters for non-custodial sentencing," Magistrate Thuku ruled.
The court further expressed concern over the reputational damage the convicts' actions could inflict on Kenya Airways and the Kenya Airports Authority.
"To see employees of Kenya Airways themselves involved in drug trafficking is more damaging than any of them possibly imagined," the magistrate noted.
