End death penalty
TWO significant developments regarding the eternal death penalty debate came to light on Tuesday. Firstly, the president of one of Africa’s leading countries, Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta, announced that the sentences of 3 000 death-row inmates have been commuted to life imprisonment.
This should be hailed as a victory for all anti-death penalty activists who, for ages, have been fighting a relentless battle to rid our planet of this scourge.
Out of the 54 African states, only five – South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Angola and Rwanda – have abolished it.
Several others still retain it on their statute books but do not execute inmates any more. Kenya, Ghana and Mauritania have announced their intentions to abolish it.
States will normally place moratoriums on the death penalty as a first step to abolition, then reprieve the sentences of death-row inmates, followed by total abolition.
It is a laborious process that can take years to implement since so many people all over the world still believe the myth that “fighting fire with fire” is the only way to deal with violence, forgetting that two wrongs will never equal a right.
Secondly, our minister of Justice announced the government’s tough proposal to table a bill against hate speech, racism, xenophobia and homophobia, which will certainly be a dilemma for some opposition parties. Repeat offenders could spend up to 10 years behind bars.
Anti-death penalty activists have been calling for years for such a law to deal with people publicly instigating violence when they call for the reintroduction of the death penalty, which by itself is a violent act that does not belong in democracies.
The death penalty can only operate in an environment of fear, hatred, vengeance, retribution and unforgiveness.
Daily, we see how rogue states where this abomination is practised drown in civil war, never to recover, unless they follow our example of reconciliation, never to return to their murky past.
People forget that in many of these countries, one can lose one’s life for apostasy. Anyone who believes in the death penalty is himself a potential murderer.