Foroyaa reporters have been following a number of cases in court which are reported to have originated from petitions addressed to the President. Some of these petitioners have even been remanded in custody.

Section 25 of the Constitution subsection 1 (f) states categorically that "Every person shall have the right to freedom to petition the executive for redress of grievances and to resort to the court for the protection of his or her right."

It is abundantly clear that every person has the right to petition the President. It is left to the president to examine the merit of the petition and respond to it or consider it to lack merit and ignores it.

Foroyaa would like to advise those who undertake to write petitions to the president to ensure that they have evidence to back their allegations and that the petitions are written in a language that is not subject to misinterpretation or conceived as derogatory.

Secondly, if one's letter is submitted to the police for an enquiry one should know one's right not to implicate oneself through the issuing of statements that would amount to acknowledgement of guilt of committing a crime out of ignorance. One has a right to a fair trial and be guided by a defence counsel to prove one's innocence.