TANZANIA: MINISTER OF JUSTICE RECOMMENDS STRIKING OUT DEATH PENALTY IN NEW CONSTITUTION

September 9, 2013: Minister of Justice and Constitution Affairs Mathias Chikawe proposed that the death penalty be removed in the new Constitution. He said life imprisonment should be an alternative to enable criminals to change their behaviour.
Chikawe said sometimes innocent people were executed ... with life imprisonment, such innocent souls could be saved.
Minister Chikawe made his remarks in Dar es Salaam during the programme Dakika 45 on ITV.
“A punishment is meant to reform a criminal. The death penalty does not reform anyone,” he said. The fact that the country had not implemented the capital punishment for 18 years, this is a good sign that we are heading in the right direction, Chikawe added.
“When a President signs for someone to undergo execution he has to live with it and will go home to sleep thinking about it. Time has come for us to do away with the capital punishment once and for all,” said Chikawe, an ardent advocate for the right to life.
In Tanzania there is an ongoing Constitutional Review process. However, the draft which was revealed on 3 June 2013 failed to say anything with regard to the abolishment of the death penalty.
Minister Chikawe said he had hoped the Draft Constitution would state clearly that every person has the right to live and make sure that the right isn’t violated through laws that impose the death penalty on Tanzanians. He stressed that he still hope that the final document will call for its abolition. (Sources: The Guardian, 11/09/2013)