A lot of killing and bloodshed everywhere,
A lot of wailing and crying everywhere,
When we try to look for solutions everywhere,
We find everyone lives in the street of I don't care!
Poverty and famine all over,
Ignorance and illiteracy has taken over,
War and violence has become the order,
For everyone lives in the street of I don't care!
The world is full of chaos everywhere,
The greedy for power is everywhere,
Corruption and selfishness everywhere,
For everyone lives in the street of I don't care!
Orphans and street children all over,
Prostitution and rapping has taken over,
Drug dealing and drug abuse has become the order,
For everyone lives in the street of I don't care!
Sometimes it is too much to bear,
Sometimes it is too much to care,
It's hard to find people who care,
For everyone lives in the street of I don't care!
Friday, August 31, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Ignorance of law is not a defense;Is it a good law in Tanzainan context?
Section 8 of the Penal Code,Cap.16 of the laws of Tanzania provides to effect that ignorance of law does not afford any excuse for any act or omission which would otherwise constitute an offence.I tend to cast a shadow of doubt to the practical application of the above provision in the Tanzanian context.Is it a good law in Tanzania?
Let us look at the situations obtaining in Tanzania in relation to the above law and try to reason out whether or not the provision is or is not a good law in Tanzania.The situations can be looked at in three aspects,as discussed herein under.
The first and foremost aspect is that of accessibility of the law.It is common knowledge that accessibility of the laws of this country to the public is poor.Very few people have access to the laws of the country.The small number comprises of lawyers,law students and few other people but mostly educated ones.It is well known,and I stand to be corrected if am wrong,that statutes and other laws are only sold in government owned bookshops.How many government bookshops are there in this country and how many people have got access to those bookshops?I am not certainly sure but I believe that there are very few to satisfy the demands of the general public.
The second aspect is that of technicalities of the legal language used in the statutes and other laws of this country.Most of the provisions of the law are written in very technical legal terms which without the assistance of a legal practitioner a layman cannot understand what they state.How many people can afford to hire a legal practitioner if not the rich and well-of economically people only?
To get legal assistance from an advocate for an hour requires money.And practice has shown that the higher the consultation fees,the good legal assistance one gets.Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world where majority of her populace live under one dollar.How many people then can afford to hire an advocate to get legal assistance when in need?
Majority of the laws of this country are written in English language.This is another aspect that we should look at.It is common knowledge that English is a second national problem after mathematics.We thank the government for allowing the private sector to invest in education and hence the mushrooming of the English medium schools in the country.But still the problem has not changed to the better.Let us hope that for the coming decades maybe the situation will have changed.However,with the current problem that we have with English language in the country,I believe that those English written laws of this country will not be understood by the common Tanzanian man who even constructing a sentence in English is a problem.
Therefore,unless solutions to the above three problems are sought and implemented,I will continue having doubts with the practical application of aforestated law in the Tanzanian society.
To first problem,I think that an alternative has to be sought to allow other bookshops other than government owned to also sell statutes and other laws.I don't know for what reasons it happened that statutes and other laws of this country are sold only in the government owned bookshops,but I believe that whatever the reasons were,the need to solve the problem of poor accessibility of the laws of this country to the general public will give merit to this alternative suggestion.
Paul Denham in his book,Law-Modern Introduction,4Th Ed.,Hodder and Stoughton,quoted a very interesting quotation,"If he knew a little of the law,he would have known a little of everything."Here Paul Denham was emphasising on the importance of people knowing the law which affects there day to day life.How can Tanzanians,whose commonly spoken language is Swahili,understand English written laws with technical legal in terms them?
The second and third problems can be dealt with together.The problem of technicalities of the legal language can be solved by carefully digesting the provisions of the laws of the country and re-writing them into simple Swahili language.This is quite possible because if the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania of 1977,as amended from time to time, is written in Swahili then I can't see the reason why other laws of the country should not.If this translation exercise is effectively and successfully done then the third problem discussed above would have been solved too.
It sounds cruel of the state to hold its people guilty over offences of which they were totally unaware of their existence.Many people,like Maulidi in Maulidi V.R,(1970)HCD.no.346, have fallen victims on the same principle.I normally call the whole process as unfair and unjust because if a person did not have access to the law,or he did not understand its provisions either because of the technical legal terms used or the use of English language which he is not well conversant with,how is he expected to act according to the dictates of the law?I am not against the idea that if the defense is allowed to be used by the accused many of the offended parties will be denied justice,but what I would like to ask is,having seen the situations obtaining in Tanzania in relation to the law aforestated,will justice be done to that party who is denied the defense and brought to trial?
Let us look at the situations obtaining in Tanzania in relation to the above law and try to reason out whether or not the provision is or is not a good law in Tanzania.The situations can be looked at in three aspects,as discussed herein under.
The first and foremost aspect is that of accessibility of the law.It is common knowledge that accessibility of the laws of this country to the public is poor.Very few people have access to the laws of the country.The small number comprises of lawyers,law students and few other people but mostly educated ones.It is well known,and I stand to be corrected if am wrong,that statutes and other laws are only sold in government owned bookshops.How many government bookshops are there in this country and how many people have got access to those bookshops?I am not certainly sure but I believe that there are very few to satisfy the demands of the general public.
The second aspect is that of technicalities of the legal language used in the statutes and other laws of this country.Most of the provisions of the law are written in very technical legal terms which without the assistance of a legal practitioner a layman cannot understand what they state.How many people can afford to hire a legal practitioner if not the rich and well-of economically people only?
To get legal assistance from an advocate for an hour requires money.And practice has shown that the higher the consultation fees,the good legal assistance one gets.Tanzania is one of the poorest countries in the world where majority of her populace live under one dollar.How many people then can afford to hire an advocate to get legal assistance when in need?
Majority of the laws of this country are written in English language.This is another aspect that we should look at.It is common knowledge that English is a second national problem after mathematics.We thank the government for allowing the private sector to invest in education and hence the mushrooming of the English medium schools in the country.But still the problem has not changed to the better.Let us hope that for the coming decades maybe the situation will have changed.However,with the current problem that we have with English language in the country,I believe that those English written laws of this country will not be understood by the common Tanzanian man who even constructing a sentence in English is a problem.
Therefore,unless solutions to the above three problems are sought and implemented,I will continue having doubts with the practical application of aforestated law in the Tanzanian society.
To first problem,I think that an alternative has to be sought to allow other bookshops other than government owned to also sell statutes and other laws.I don't know for what reasons it happened that statutes and other laws of this country are sold only in the government owned bookshops,but I believe that whatever the reasons were,the need to solve the problem of poor accessibility of the laws of this country to the general public will give merit to this alternative suggestion.
Paul Denham in his book,Law-Modern Introduction,4Th Ed.,Hodder and Stoughton,quoted a very interesting quotation,"If he knew a little of the law,he would have known a little of everything."Here Paul Denham was emphasising on the importance of people knowing the law which affects there day to day life.How can Tanzanians,whose commonly spoken language is Swahili,understand English written laws with technical legal in terms them?
The second and third problems can be dealt with together.The problem of technicalities of the legal language can be solved by carefully digesting the provisions of the laws of the country and re-writing them into simple Swahili language.This is quite possible because if the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania of 1977,as amended from time to time, is written in Swahili then I can't see the reason why other laws of the country should not.If this translation exercise is effectively and successfully done then the third problem discussed above would have been solved too.
It sounds cruel of the state to hold its people guilty over offences of which they were totally unaware of their existence.Many people,like Maulidi in Maulidi V.R,(1970)HCD.no.346, have fallen victims on the same principle.I normally call the whole process as unfair and unjust because if a person did not have access to the law,or he did not understand its provisions either because of the technical legal terms used or the use of English language which he is not well conversant with,how is he expected to act according to the dictates of the law?I am not against the idea that if the defense is allowed to be used by the accused many of the offended parties will be denied justice,but what I would like to ask is,having seen the situations obtaining in Tanzania in relation to the law aforestated,will justice be done to that party who is denied the defense and brought to trial?
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