Maravi

Retired magistrate warns against removing abuse of office clause

Retired magistrate warns against removing abuse of office clause
By Mwila Chansa in Kitwe
Sun 07 Nov. 2010, 03:59 CAT

KITWE-based retired magistrate Kambanja Chinyemba has observed that the removal of the abuse of office offence from the revised ACC Act will breed anarchy and open a Pandora's box for all sorts of corruption.

And Chinyemba said only individuals involved in shoddy deals can be against the abuse of office offence because they regard it as a stumbling block since they do not want to explain how they acquire their wealth.

In an interview in Kitwe, Chinyemba observed that the abuse of office law had been there for a long time and that courts had been applying it and securing both convictions and acquittals.

He said arguments that the law in question was being repealed because it put the burden of proof on the accused person to explain how they amassed their wealth had no merit because there were many other statutes that required accused persons to explain to the courts how they found themselves in a given situation.

“Notably, section 319 (a) of the Penal Code Cap 87 - being in possession of property suspected to have been stolen or unlawfully obtained - under this section, the burden of proof shifts to the accused person to explain as to how he or she came to be in possession of such property,” he said.

“Further, section 305 (c) of the Penal Code talks about having possession by night without lawful excuse of house breaking implements or explosives. This again places the burden on the accused after the prosecution has proved possession of the said items and the burden shifts to the accused to explain how he came to be in possession.”

Chinyemba also cited section 51 of the immigration and deportation Act of 2010 which places the burden on the immigrant to prove that he or she was in the country lawfully by way of producing documentation.

“With these few sections and many others, I find it strange that they should only pick on the ACC Act as being archaic. If their removal of section 37 is genuine, then they should go through all statutes and remove those which place the burden on the accused person,” he added.

Chinyemba said there was nothing wrong to ask a public officer to explain how they acquired their wealth.

Chinyemba urged the government through the Ministry of Justice to revise archaic laws, especially the precedence forms in the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) that are outdated, instead of targeting good laws that deter people from committing crimes.

Labels: ACC, CHINYEMBA KAMBANJA, CORRUPTION

posted by MrK @ 4:34 PM