THEFT OF CATTLE BEING NON BAILABLE.
HERE IS WHERE I HAVE A PROBLEM.
1.Zambia has been built principally from copper ,even though gold and emerals is more valuable than copper which is also more valuable than cattle ,we can safely say that Copper has been our most treasured resource.
Copper thefts are very rampant and we lose millions throught such thefts.COPPER THEFT REMAINS A BAILABLE OFFENCE and so is Gold and other precious minerals.
2.Motor vehicles are ow⁴ned by many Zambians in every region of this country and the price of one vehicle cannot be compared to the price of one cow or a goat.Motor vehicle theft was Non bailable but the law was amended to make it bailable because the law in the first place was made non bailable because the crafters of the law were targeting some individuals.The lesson is that a law must never be made targeting an individual or individuals.
3.The presumption of innocence holds that a person is innocent when suspected to have committed a crime until hes proven guilty.The arguments that cases must be made bailable is so as to deter excessive punishment before one is convicted..A lot of people who have been suspected of committing crimes that are not bailable have spent years in Prison walls only to be declared innocent .. but imagine the the suffering they are subjected to…
The argument here is not that Cattle thieves should not be harshly punished ,they should be severely punished because even cattle is valuable but the contention is making suspects of cattle thefts spend years in prison ..
4.This law will cause trouble in areas where they practice open grazing .There are areas where anyone can take their animals to graze and it is possible that one animal can stray into another group of cattle and anyone can simply allege that another has stole their cow and by the time the courts would have been proving otherwise ,the accused would have languished in prison walls .
THE LAW MUST NEVER BE TRARGETED AND WE ARE MOVING TOWARDS LESS AND MORE HUMANE OFFENDER MANAGEMENT AND SO THIS PROPOSED LAW IS RETROGRESSIVE.
BINWELL MPUNDU
NKANA MP
UMWINA NKANA