Nairobi — In Malawi "mob justice" is illegal and anyone caught administering it on a suspected offender is breaking the law and will be arrested to answer charges of assault or murder if the victim dies.
Chingo Nosha, not his real name has been caught robbing a grocery after gunning down two shop attendants. Angry people surrender him to Blantyre Police Station. Three days later Chingo is caught while staging another daylight robbery.
"How can the very notorious robber we surrendered to police be involved in another robbery? Why do the police release these robbers?" fumes one of the street vendors in Blantyre. "What's the use of taking him to police when we know that the police will release him on bail?" complains the vendor.
The mob surrounds him and later pours petrol on him. He is set ablaze. As the fire consumes him to death, heavily armed policemen arrive on the scene. They arrest the street vendor and charge him with manslaughter.
Many Malawians having lost confidence in the country's legal system especially when it comes to releasing suspects on bail, do not bother to take suspects to the police instead they torch the suspects to death. The practice is however heavily criticised by the police and human rights activists. Police Public Relations Officer Oliver Soko says that despite so many appeals to the public not to execute their own justice on suspected offenders, mob justice is major problem in urban societies where cases of pilfering and general burglary are common.
He says about 70 per cent of deaths of suspected offenders have been blamed on mob justice. Soko disclosed that in Blantyre alone 14 suspects were killed in September and in October the police recorded nine deaths.
These are the only cases that are recorded by the police. He however said some are burnt to death without the police being informed. He says the police force is working tirelessly in advising the general public that mob justice is illegal and unorthodox. "It is the duty of the court to pass justice and not the people against one another. The constitution does not give them that authority", Says Mr. Soko.
He further says "We are aware that many people would like to have suspects locked up in police cells or prisons. They forget that Section 42 (2) b of our Constitution states: Every person arrested for or accused of the alleged commission of an offence shall, in addition to the rights which she or he has as a detained person, have the right as soon as it is reasonably possible, but not later than 48 hours after the arrest, or if the period of 48 hours expires outside ordinary court hours or on a day which is not a court day, the independent and impartial court of law and to be charged or to be informed of the reason for his or her further detention, failing which he or she shall be released."
Soko however says the police through the newly introduced community policing programme is educating the masses on the importance of bringing suspects to police stations rather than torching them to death.
He says with the community policing in place whose principal duty is to make people to control crime in their communities the trend is slowly changing. "Currently community policing seems to be working in many areas where the people have formed a security network which patrols the neighbourhood, particularly at night. When members of community policing units catch suspects they hand them over to us," explains Soko.
Sheynard Mazengera, a legal officer with the Malawi Care condemns mob justice describing it as inhuman. He says it spoils the very fabric of living in a democratic culture where respect for rights of the individual are upheld. "Accepting to live in a democratic set up would be useless then if people do not want to conform to its ideals. Mob justice for instance is immoral and against the book to many people, even pagans", says Mazengera.
He said that democracy in essence requires people to tolerate one another even in trying times. He said the public is supposed to respect the fact that it has got its own limits in as far as bringing suspected offenders to book was concerned.
"For instance, people already know that executing a suspect is not their role. The important thing to do would be to leave the police do their job and later the courts as the constitution demands" says Mazengera.
Meanwhile the Law Commission on Criminal Justice has reviewed the Penal Code and made recommendations to the Section 118 of the Criminal Code on bail guidelines which courts will be required to follow when considering whether to grant bail or not.
According to the vice chairperson of the Law Commission, Justice Edward Twea the underlying principles behind the guidelines that the commission has developed is to ensure that in every case bail is granted or refused only in the interest of justice.
In its manifesto the ruling United Democratic Front promised to review bail conditions as a way of dealing with insecurity. The party's deputy legal advisor Paul Maulidi says that the government will soon table the Law Commission recommendations in the next sitting of Parliament.
He also suggests that the disgruntled public also needed civic education to realise that when suspects are granted bail it does not mean that their cases are closed. "People have to be told that a suspect on bail is not free. It means he cannot not be convicted because the police have to get more evidence. Otherwise innocent people will suffer in police cells," says Maulidi.
He criticised mob justice saying even where the victim might have committed a crime, the punishment given is unproportional to the offence committed. Punishment should tally with an offence. Although people are frustrated one cannot be killed for stealing a chicken worth K100 (US$2.20).
Despite vigorous efforts by the police and human rights organisations to bring to halt the practice, the public at large feels that the constitutional provisions protects criminals rather than innocent victims of burglaries.
Most people say that of late the police have proved to be ineffective, rendering the whole community security system loose.
"Thieves are arrested for a day or two and then returned to the society where they continue to cause havoc and are a menace to life and property. How do you explain a police officer going out to drink with a criminal who is on bail and is facing serious criminal charges? Can we the public have trust in police of such calibre?", argues Henry Nagoli, a Ndirande resident who has been a victim of burglary on several occasions.
He suspects criminals bribe the police and some court officials to earn bail in the name of respecting constitutional provisions.
"If the police and our courts of law will continue granting bail to murderers and robbers, we will have no choice but continue stoning and torching them to death," says Nagoli.
Concurring with him is High Court Deputy Registrar for central and northern Malawi, Charles Mkandawire who says although mob justice is illegal he cannot blame the people who are frustrated by the bailing system. "We in the judiciary have done a number of sensitisation programmes to the Bench on the Constitutional requirements of bail. The Honourable Chief Justice issued a circular that there should not be an expert (one sided) application for bail. We are saying bail is right but it can be restricted," says Mkandawire.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
He also blames the state prosecutors for delaying and frustrating the arrangement saying sometimes they fail to appear for a session after having a prior notice of bail application.
But the newly appointed Director of Public Prosecution Fahad Assani says his department is understaffed with only eight lawyers including himself to cater for a population of about 10 million.
Members of the public nevertheless say they resort to "mob justice" as the last antidote to their security woes. It says people no longer have the respect for police than they did in the past.
People also resolve to take the law in their own hands when they see that some of those who are caught breaking into shops and banks are police officers who do their work during daylight and wear masks at night.
President Bakili Muluzi in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the Police Force has on several occasions taken a swipe at some police officers and members of the judiciary who grant bail to notorious criminals. He even called on concerned authorities to deny bail to offenders who commit serious crimes like defilement, armed robbery and manslaughter.
AFRICANEWS News & Views on Africa from Africa Koinonia Media Centre, P.O. Box 8034, Nairobi, Kenya email: amani@iol.it
