President of Zambia Hakainde Hichilema announced that he is planning to completely abolish the death penalty row. Dr.Rajan Mahtani, who is the founder and current chairman of the Prison Fellowship Zambia (PFZ), wholeheartedly supported this announcement. Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is known for his several philanthropic and charitable activities across Zambia spread across several decades. For instance, Dr. Mahtani established the Stephen Malama award and scholarship for top law graduates in Zambia. This award comes with a significant cash prize of 15,000 Kwacha which provides significant support to the deserving students
Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani, while supporting the announcement made by the Zambian President, stated that the concept of the death penalty makes no sense as it is a cruel, inhumane, and degrading law. As such, the decision made by the Zambian President, despite being bold, is actually the right move towards achieving equality within the nation. While previous Presidents of Zambia definitely tried to stay away from capital punishment, none of these Presidents actually worked towards bringing down this inhumane and cruel practice. This can be attributed to the growing consensus towards death penalty abolishment across the globe, a trend that can be seen across Africa and Zambia too. At the same time, past visits by Presidents and Vice-Presidents have revealed that the condition of several maximum prisons is extremely degrading with prisoners devoid of even fundamental human rights and basic human dignity. As such, the Zambian government has started strategic decongestion of prisons by releasing prisoners. This makes the death penalty an archaic law without any significance.
Dr. Mahtani also said that he has observed several transformations with prisoners dedicating their lives towards the service of the god. At the same time, the decision might be faced with significant resistance and bureaucratic challenges. However, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani has openly announced that he will support this decision from the Zambian President in all ways possible with the hope to see this change in the criminal justice system of Zambia.
