Minister keen on prison decongestion nationwide MAUREEN ODUNGA 08 OCTOBER 2016
THE Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Dr Harrison Mwakyembe, has said that plans are underway to dispose minor lawsuits in a bid to reduce congestions in the country’s prisons.
Dr Mwakyembe made the remarks in Dar es Salaam yesterday when he held talks with the Chief Justice (CJ) of South Australia, Mr Chris Kourakis. “The existence of a big number of minor lawsuits whose completion does not require much time has led to congestion in our prisons.
They pose a big challenge which requires a lot of resources,” said Dr Mwakyembe. This is among the areas of co-operation between Tanzania and Australia which requires attention and immediate solutions.
The Chief Registrar (CR), Ms Katarina Revokati, pointed out that the areas of cooperation which were highlighted at the meeting include capacity building and training for members of staff at the Judiciary.
There is also a need to carry out a review on the country’s Minimum Sentence Act. Clarifying on the Minimum Sentence Act, the Permanent Secretary (PS) in the same Ministry, Prof Sifuni Mchome, said the law required that magistrates grant minimum sentences for some cases without acting below the set limit.
“The law needs to be reviewed to see whether the identified crimes deserve to be granted a minimum sentence as it has been highlighted,” noted Prof Mchome.
The current state of the law does not give room for the accused to plead guilty for a bargain on a minimum sentence. Experts from the two countries will discuss the best ways on which the law can be approached by the enforcers so that the undertakings of minor cases can attain solutions.
On his part, Mr Kourakis said Australia, on the other hand, has imposed a minimum sentence for very few crimes on which a magistrate is not allowed to act below the set limit and therefore gives an opportunity for the accused to repent and plead guilty.
“This gives an opportunity for the court to bargain with the accused to plead guilty for a minimum sentence to be granted, otherwise if you identify the sentence the accused is usually hesitant because they know they would be going to jail and lose the chance to be set free,” he pointed out.
On such circumstances, it was wise for issues of imposing a sentence to be left to the responsible magistrates
