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Mob justice reflects lack of confidence in law enforcers
2007-12-22 08:24:36
By Emmanuel Hayuka
Reports that condemn the government machinery for violation of basic human rights are now common. These include, to a great extent, poor and degrading treatment of accused persons during the apprehension and subsequent police custody or detention in remand prisons.
As a result many people have come to believe that the government is the only violator of human rights, particularly with regard to the rights of accused persons.
Actually the blame for such misrepresentation should not solely be directed to the people but to those who either intentionally or unknowingly paint such a picture.
Human rights activists and local as well as international NGOs are in the forefront in holding the government as perpetrator of human rights violation forgetting other sections of the society.
When I was studying Law at University of Dar es Salaam, Prof Chris Maina Peter once said that about 60 percent of human rights violation is committed by state machineries and the remaining 40 percent by civilians and other non-state actors.
So the situation on the ground clearly indicates that there are other institutions which also breach human rights.
How many times have we heard cases of people killing others without any legal excuse?
We know of domestic violence directed on women and children, exploitation of domestic workers, discrimination in all its various forms and mob-justice, to name but a few.
All these examples reveal the fact that it is not the state machinery alone which is responsible for human rights violation but civilians have also a share in this.
Undoubtedly, huge responsibility is vested on the government to promote and protect basic human rights of its subjects.
This could be prompted by, firstly, the fact that the government having been elected to power, obtains the legitimacy of ensuring law and order prevails in the society.
Secondly, the government is considered to be the only institution to have both human and financial resources to carry out the task of protecting basic human rights of the people.
The government can be responsible for violation of basic human rights not only by active involvement of its personnel but also by not implementing their duties as far as the protection of human rights is concerned.
A good examples in this regard is the habit which has for sometime now existed in the country whereby people take the law in their own hands and punish suspects including lynching them.
This is what is popularly known as mob-justice.
Surprisingly, the police force which is entrusted with the task of facilitating law and order in the country rarely arrests those involved.
The problem has become more serious to the extent that people invade police stations and attack the police in an effort to punish suspected criminals.
This has happened in Chato District in Kagera region and Ilongero village in Singida region.
Sadly in both incidents the mobs managed to break into the police stations and seize the accused persons, beat them and eventually set both the accused persons and the police stations on fire.
Clearly these are very saddening and unfortunate incidents which should not be happening in a country which is supposed to adhere to the fundamental constitutional principle of the rule of law.
The country`s Police Chief, IGP Said Mwema, having recognised the threat poses by such incidents if left to continue, came out strongly to condemn those incidents.
He further told the public that they are endangering their life when they participate in such incidents because the Penal Code allows the use of force by the police to protect life and property.
An equivalent provision is to be found in the Police Force Act, whereby section 29 allows the police officers to use force, (including the use of fire arms) to prevent the people who use force to free accused persons from a police custody or who prevent police officer(s) to make an arrest.
``To invade police stations and set them on fire, freeing accused persons and even to kill them, are the circumstances which legally speaking allow police officers to use force, weapons (fire arms) and if need be, to kill,`` IGP Mwema stated during press conference.
As a matter of fact the IGP\'s assertion could be correct, except that the use of force which the police officers are given the lee-way by the fore mentioned legislations should be ``a reasonable force,`` a phrase which in itself is ambiguous, due to the difficulties of determining and measuring the so called reasonable force.
However, the phrase is very significant because it tends to limit the police officers from using the said force arbitrarily and hence ensure the basic rights and freedoms of the citizens are protected.
Nevertheless, different points of view have emerged from numerous quotas throughout the country.
Most of them blame the police for being the architect of this ever-growing trend of people taking the law into their own hands.
``This situation is caused by the government itself, especially the incompetence of law enforcement institutions. Although people respect the laws of the country the latter does not protect the former,`` says Yonas Mwambyale, a businessman on the outskirt of Dar es Salaam.
He further elaborates that, sometimes the suspects are arrested and brought before the law enforcement organs, but afterward they are set free without the public knowing the status of their cases.
Therefore seeing such situations being repeated, people become frustrated and hence lose confidence in the law enforcement organs. They decide to take the law into their own hands.
Thomas Liyame, a resident of Mwaya Road in Masaki, explains that mob-justice is the result of anger the people normally have when they witness persons who are suspected of committing crimes are set free and continue roaming around while boasting that they are \"untouchable.``
``People normally become furious and decide to take the risk of attacking the suspects and police stations, as the recent development demonstrates. They no longer have confidence in the law enforcement agents, regardless of the fact that what they do is illegal and violates the basic rights of the suspect.`` Liyame noted.
The dissatisfaction of these common people over the performance of law enforcement agencies as shown by the Ilongero incident was supported by the Member of Parliament for Singida North, Lazaro Nyalandu.
``The police should explain how the suspect who was in custody managed to escape and later rape and causes the death of two innocent children,`` Nyalandu was quoted by the press as saying.
This was in response to the report that the accused person (Khalfan Mohamedi alias Nkindwa Mile) who was killed by angry wananchi, was in custody before the aforesaid incident for allegedly raping his mother.
This kind of view is shared by a sizeable portion of the society.
That is why the level of the condemnation of incidents of mob-justice in the country is very low, even among the pro-human rights non-governmental organizations that tend to give the issue of mob-justice low profile in their annual reports or periodical comments.
in the aftermath of the Chato incident the Legal and Human Rights Centre Executive Director, Hellen Kijo-Bisimba, issued a statement condemning the act of people taking the law into their own hands.
The public as a whole should unite unequivocally in condemning these acts of barbarism because its tolerance could lead to innocent people being affected.
An incident which happened in Kariakoo last month bears proof of this.
Two ladies were involved in a fight after one of them had accused the other of stealing.
People joined in the fight, beating the accused lady badly without any proof of the allegations.
Luckily Good Samaritans and the police intervened to save the lady from further beating.
However it later transpired that the ladies knew each other well and they had spent the previous night at a nearby pub with a man.
One could rightly conclude that their fight could be due to a disagreement over the sharing of what they had earned the night before.
As the IGP had said, these incidents, if allowed to continue, will lead to cruelty and create an environment of noncompliance of the rule of law, lack of respect among the people and ultimately endanger peace and stability.
It is important to respect the laws of the land so as to ensure that justice and respect of basic human rights of the people do prevail.
Frankly speaking this can be attained if both the general public and the institutions entrusted with the task of enforcing the law play their part.
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