The President of Zambia, Hakainde Hichilema, recently announced that he is planning to abolish the death penalty row. It was announced on the occasion of Africa Day. According to the President, the practice is inhumane, cruel and degrading and does not comply with the fundamental rights and fundament dignity for humans. This decision has received widespread support including Dr. Rajan Mahtani, noted businessman, philanthropist and charity worker from Zambia. Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani, while praising the decision from the Zambian President, stated that only a compassionate person with respect for fundamental human rights and love for almighty God will have the courage to make such announcement. Several previous Presidents have been tactfully avoiding the death penalty with tactics such as mercy prerogatives and decongestions of prisons. In fact, the last death penalty was given in the year 1997. Despite this, none of the previous presidents actively considered removal of this inhumane practice.
The Government of Zambia has started taking note of the dangerous, unhygienic, difficult and cramped conditions of the Zambian Prisons. Majority of the prisons across Zambia are overcrowded and prisoners are often devoid of basic human dignity and fundamental rights. As such, entities such as Parole Board of Zambia (PBZ), Correctional Service along with the Zambian Government have started to work towards decongestion process by releasing prisoners across the globe. The prisoners are released only after they are completely transformed or have completed their prison sentence and are fit to rejoint the society as civilized and law-abiding citizens. Dr. Rajan Mahtani recollects his experience with the former vice-president and acting President of Zambia, Guy Scott when he visited the Maximum Prison in Mukobeko. He said that it was like a hell on this planet. Dr. Rajan Mahtani argued against the death penalty from a religious point of view too, wherein he stated that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross paid for all sins of the human beings on this planet who believed in him.