Prisons Care & Counselling Association (PRISCCA) Executive Director Godfrey Malembeka has commended President Edgar Lungu for commuting 246 inmates from death row sentencing to life imprisonment.
Mr. Malembeka indicated that the current President has so far commuted over 630 inmates during his tenure saying that it is an impressive record which demonstrates a willingness to respect and uphold human rights.
Speaking in a statement, Mr. Malembeka noted that the act will not only decongest the Correctional Centres but also meant to protect inmates from contracting the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The Executive Director stated that Mukobeko Maximum facility only has a capacity of 50 people at its condemned section but the number has kept increasing with more than 400 inmates just before yesterday’s commutation, thereby subjecting inmates to untold congestion, an infringement on their rights.
He maintained his position that there is no evidence that suggests that the death penalty deters crime, adding that Correctional Centres are meant to transform people.
“As PRISCCA, we believe reformation is the answer. There is no reformation in the grave. That’s why people who commit serious offences should be jailed and given a chance to reform. Further as a Christian nation. We should leave vengeance to God,” Mr. Malembeka reiterated.
Mr. Malembeka however suggested that the country should consider abolishing the death penalty as it violates the right to life as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
He indicated that as much as there are serious offences such as murder, aggravated robbery and treason that attracts death sentencing, the country should join African countries such as Malawi, Zimbabwe, Namibia, South Africa, Mauritius and Seychelles in abolishing the death penalty and maintain life imprisonment.
Yesterday, President Lungu commuted 246 inmates and of this number, 225 are male and 21 are female. The commutation was done at Mukobeko Maximum prison in Kabwe.
Indeed that record is impressive ?… The president has shown willingness to forgive those that are on death roll. This is evident by the number of people that have been commuted to life imprisonment sentences
We indeed commend the president for this decision
The answer is to just get rid of the death penalty. It is inhumane and degrading to keep people waiting to be killed by the State. The last President to sign a death warrant was Chiluba (a born again Christian). From Levy to today, no one has hung. What we should do is to televise the hangings so that people can see how brutal it is for a person to die that barbaric way in this day and age. Then we should let the advocates go and pick up the bodies and bury them.
He is a man of God. Remember leaders are not made, they are picked by the lord.
Yeah the president did well to commute the inmates
Before you give Lungu a standing ovation, just remember that he once charged his political rival with treason. Treason carries a death sentence.
If he wants to show that he regrets that decision, and that in this election year he cares for human rights, he should abolish this primitive practice that our colonial masters introduced, and have since banned.
The president deserves commendation… Well done ???
the president did well
This was a great thing the president did,,he has a heart for the people that’s why I like him
Nothing new here. It happens with Presidents every now and then – sometimes as a populist ploy. In fact in Zambia, many of those on the death row should never have been on it in the first place. We still have archaic laws that still punish some crimes by death when lesser sentences should suffice. For example, aggravated robbery (where a firearm is used in the process of stealing, even if no one is killed)
This is amazing mr president
This is one of the many prerogatives that a sitting President has and should never be viewed otherwise. Nothing new here. In an election year a lot happens to appease your base. Donald Trump did the same thing before he left office, he did pardon lots of people including his friends.