Independent Churches Support Removing Death Penalty

The Independent Churches of Zambia (ICOZ) has said it backs the government’s decision to remove the death penalty, making it the first church mother body to comment on the move.

Other mother bodies, including the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Anglican Council of Churches in Zambia are yet to come out either in favour or against the decision. In 2018, Pope Francis, the head of the worldwide Catholic Church, criticised the death penalty, describing it as “an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person”. Similarly,  the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has also called for the death penalty to be dropped in other African countries.

On the eve of Wednesday’s Africa Freedom Day, President Hakainde Hichilema announced that the New Dawn government would be making moves to abolish the death penalty in Zambia, terming it a “big decision” by the government.

“We will work with parliament to run this process as we transition away from the death penalty and focus on the preservation, and rehabilitation of life while still delivering justice for all,” he said.

To mark Africa Freedom Day, President Hichilema pardoned 2,045 inmates, including 33 elderly inmates. He also commute sentences for 607 prisoners.

Although the death penalty has long been a part of Zambian law, no executions have taken place since the 1990s. The government has said it will now work to transition away from the death penalty to focus more on rehabilitation, while also addressing the issues of overcrowding in jails and prisons.