Death penalty for crimes that warrant it: Steven

THE death penalty is applicable to crimes that warrant extreme penalties and Parliament is entitled to include that in the penalty provisions, Deputy Prime Minister Davis Steven, pictured, says.
Steven also, the Justice Minister and Attorney-General, said Parliament was entitled to include the change in the body of laws.
“The question now is when do we implement it when the National Executive Council (NEC) approves the method of execution?” he said.
“One of the last submissions I signed before I resigned (recently from Cabinet) was to brief the NEC on the exact progress status of this particular law.
“We spent K2 million and sent our officials on a fact-finding mission overseas to come back and advise us on what we should do in terms of how we execute those who are on death row.” Steven said the National Court had directed the Government to relook at the provisions of the organic law relating to the power of mercy.
“These are legacy issues we will have to go through,” he said.
“The NEC must now make a decision and that submission is currently under preparation and I will present it to NEC when it is ready.
“The good thing is that whilst the law is available the judges have an option to impose it.
“We know in our jurisdictions that courts have imposed that penalty before that’s why we have people on death row.
“Parliament knows that we have that penalty available. So in crimes that we think warrant this very extreme penalty, it (Parliament) has entitled to decide to include that in penalty provisions.”