Zambia President Michael Sata pardons 615 inmates, commutes 113 death sentences to life

May 26, 2013: Zambia President Michael Chilufya Sata has pardoned 615 inmates with minor offenses countrywide while 113 have had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.

Mr Sata said when he addressed the nation on Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) on the eve of Africa Freedom Day that this is part of the celebrations.

Commissioner of Prisons Percy Chato disclosed in an interview from Kabwe yesterday that the 113 who were condemned to death had their sentences reduced to life imprisonment with immediate effect.

He said the President’s move to pardon prisoners is in accordance with Article 51 of the Constitution.

President Sata said during his address that there is need to emulate the selfless spirit of the country’s founding fathers and mothers by creating a united front against the many challenges the country is facing.

He said it is only through unity that citizens could build a stronger and better Zambia for all.

The theme for this year’s Africa Freedom Day, which coincided with the celebration of the Golden Jubilee since the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now African Union (AU) is: Building on 50 years of African solidarity and striving towards peace, development and prosperity for all.

“People must live in an atmosphere of peace and stability for any meaningful and sustainable development to take place. The Golden Jubilee is an opportunity to reflect on many fronts in national development,” Mr Sata said.

Source: daily-mail.co.zm, 26/05/2013

Zambia's vice president shocked by death row conditions

Zambia's Vice President Guy Scott was dumbfounded. The first top official to visit the Mukobeko maximum-security prison since independence in 1964, Scott did not like what he saw.

"We have to find a solution because this is hell on earth," said the vice president after touring the death row section of the prison.

Located in Kabwe district, in Central Province - about 150 kilometres outside the capital Lusaka - the conditions at the prison are wretched.

In the men's section, which is the worst part, an invasive stench strikes every inmate, warden and visitor. The odour is a mix of unwashed people and chamber pots in need of being emptied.

Upon arriving, Scott was informed that the prison had undergone a massive clean-up operation. His entourage wondered what the place looked like before being sanitized for the top official.

Overcrowding is rampant. The death row section of Mukobeko has 281 prisoners, but its official holding capacity is just 48. Up to eight inmates can be packed into a cell meant for one lone prisoner.

"Even if you did not believe in God, when you are brought here, you can never go back to your old life, because life here is bad," says Benjamin Miti, who has been on death row since 1993, awaiting his appeal in a murder case.

Zambia has not executed anyone since 1997, owing to a presidential moratorium that has been upheld by three consecutive heads of state.

However, capital punishment is still on the books for grave offences, such as murder and aggravated robbery. While the condemned are not killed, they still wait on death row, never sure what exactly will happen.

Now 43 years old and having spent about half of his life in jail, Miti blames a slow justice system for the overcrowding. Prisoners can wait years for their cases to be heard. In some instances, files have gone missing, leaving prisoners trapped in a legal limbo from which they cannot escape.

"My fate is yet to be decided because the Supreme Court, where my appeal case is, has informed us that it is unable to trace my case. So I will have to wait," Miti said. "Imagine, I have lived for 19 years without knowing my fate!"

Zambia's Commissioner of Prisons Percy Chato does not try to whitewash the issues, but says the government is trying to make changes.

"The Prisons Service is going through a lot of problems when it comes to congestion," admits Chato. Since Scott's visit last month, his office has started to work more closely with the judiciary to speed up cases, in an effort to empty the prisons.

Scott himself says there is a need for a total overhaul of the prison system.

"As government, we can't allow the present situation to continue," said Scott, adding that the orders to investigate what was going on in the prison came directly from President Michael Sata.

Built in 1954, when the southern African nation was under British rule, Mukobeko is surrounded by concrete slabs 20 metres high. Bulbous razor wire stretches across the entire length of the wall.

Little work has been done on the structure since the colonial masters retreated and it is falling into disrepair.

Source: BusinessLive.co.za, May 21, 2012

Ugandan MP to be banned from UK if his gay death penalty bill succeeds

David Bahati wants to execute consenting same-sex couples, arguing it is a crime they choose to commit.

The British government will ban a Ugandan MP from travelling to the UK if he is successful in passing a law that would impose the death penalty in Uganda for being gay.

Civil servants in the Foreign Office, the Department for International Development and the Borders Agency are drawing up plans to block the visa of born-again Christian MP David Bahati if he does not drop legislation that would see consenting adults who have gay sex imprisoned for life and impose the death penalty on those with HIV which will be called "aggravated homosexuality".

The bill also proposes the death penalty for those having gay sex with anyone under the age of 18, with someone disabled or what the legislation describes as "serial offenders".

It also calls for life prison sentences for those "promoting homosexuality", which could come to mean human rights groups or those who fail to inform on a gay couple.

One senior British government source said the issue could turn into a "major diplomatic incident if the Ugandans do not back down". President Barack Obama has already described the legislation as odious.

The British government's views have been conveyed to Uganda but officials have not received a clear sense of whether the legislature will pass the bill into law.

Ugandan government officials appear to be using stalling tactics, suggesting it will not come to a vote until 2011, deflecting pressure from a government that could change in the forthcoming general election.

Bahati submitted a private member's bill to the Ugandan parliament last year arguing that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice.

Gay sex is already illegal in Uganda but backbenchers there are pushing for more draconian punishment by preying on fears that homosexuals are "recruiting" children at schools.

Though observers believe President Yoweri Museveni was beaten back by the level of international opprobrium, a march against homosexuality in Uganda last month attracted 2,000 supporters.

The British government is concerned by a wave of anti-gay sentiment sweeping Africa that has also put pressure on homosexual people in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Nigeria.

Besides rescinding the visa of the backbencher, other options considered have been blocking aid to the Ugandan government. The government has switched its strategy to individual visa blocking amidst signs that threats to withhold aid backfire.

Bishop Joseph Bvumbwe, chairman of the Malawi Council of Churches, has accused western donors of trying to use aid as a bait to force Malawi to legalise homosexuality.

British officials have already rescinded the visas of those involved in the Kenyan election riots and members of the Zimbabwean government.

Source: The Guardian, April 19, 2010