Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s office responsible for Policy, Coordination and Parliament, Mr William Lukuvi
By Bernard James, The Citizen Reporter
(email the author)
Posted Saturday, September 7 2013 at 08:27
Posted Saturday, September 7 2013 at 08:27
In Summary
- The new agency would be independent of the police and have powers to investigate, arrest and prosecute suspected drug dealers. It would also house a special drugs court under the same roof.
Dar es Salaam. The government is crafting a Bill
that proposes a Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau-like
agency to scale up the war against drug trafficking and abuse, which
have painted Tanzania as a major narcotics base in the region.
The new agency would be independent of the police
and have powers to investigate, arrest and prosecute suspected drug
dealers. It would also house a special drugs court under the same roof.
The government has in recent months come under
attack for failing to curtail a thriving drugs trade in the country.
Narcotics worth billions of shillings that are spirited through Julius
Nyerere International Airport have been netted in other parts of the
world despite a campaign to stamp out the high risk trade.
News of the draft Bill comes at a time when
pressure is mounting for the authorities to crack down on drug kingpins
who have made the country a soft transit point for drugs from Pakistan
and Iran. The new legal commitment to tackling the drugs menace also
appears to be driven by the arrest of hundreds of Tanzanian drug mules
and seizure of drug consignments abroad. Mr William Lukuvi, the Minister
of State in the Prime Minister’s office responsible for Policy,
Coordination and Parliament, confirmed the development, saying: “We are
forming a new agency…a new force to fight drugs. We are thinking of even
bigger things.” The Citizen on Saturday has learnt that the draft Bill
proposes a special court to adjudicate drug cases. The Bill is in the
final stages and it is expected that stakeholders and the general public
will review it before it is tabled in Parliament.
One of the key features of the draft is that it
cuts down significantly the time needed to certify the kind and value of
drugs seized and how long drug cases are heard and decided.
With the new Bill, Mr Lukuvi says, lack of a
certificate of value and type of drugs from the drug control commission
and the chief government chemist “will no longer be an excuse for drug
traffickers to earn their freedom”.
“The proposed law will shorten the time to certify
the drugs and, once they are proved to be illicit, they will be
immediately destroyed,” he added. “We don’t need to have the drugs in
stores for 10 years or more while the cases are still pending in
courts.”
Some of the new provisions are aimed at responding
to widespread criticism directed at the judicial officials and judges,
who have been accused of giving drug dealers a soft landing. The courts
have been accused of openly disregarding the law and freeing suspects.
Some judges have granted bail to traffickers against Section 27 (a) (1)
of the Drugs and Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Drugs Act, 1995, which
forbids the release of people charged with trafficking in drugs valued
at more than Sh10 million.
The same bail conditions have been specified in
Section 148 of the Criminal Procedure Act. One of the examples that is
likely to haunt the Judiciary is the release in August 2012 of two
Pakistanis charged with trafficking in 179 kilogrammes of heroin worth
Sh6.2billion.
In releasing them, Judge Upendo Msuya pointed to
lack of a certificate of value for the seized drugs. The ages of the
suspects were also not specified. The suspects later escaped. An arrest
warrant was issued against them last week in a wave of fresh hearing of
cases that have stagnated for many years.
The US government’s 2012 International Narcotics
Control Strategy Report lists inadequate sentencing and relatively
modest bail as part of the narcotics problems in Tanzania.
Mr Lukuvi told The Citizen on Saturday that the
new draft Bill will scrap the fine option for convicted drug dealers. He
added: “They (convicts) know their bosses will pay the fines. They no
longer show fear. So the option of a fine will no longer feature in the
new law. We want the new Bill to be extremely punitive on drug
offenders.
Dar
es Salaam. The government is crafting a Bill that proposes a Prevention
and Combating of Corruption Bureau-like agency to scale up the war
against drug trafficking and abuse, which have painted Tanzania as a
major narcotics base in the region.
The new agency would be independent of the police
and have powers to investigate, arrest and prosecute suspected drug
dealers. It would also house a special drugs court under the same roof.
The government has in recent months come under
attack for failing to curtail a thriving drugs trade in the country.
Narcotics worth billions of shillings that are spirited through Julius
Nyerere International Airport have been netted in other parts of the
world despite a campaign to stamp out the high risk trade.
News of the draft Bill comes at a time when
pressure is mounting for the authorities to crack down on drug kingpins
who have made the country a soft transit point for drugs from Pakistan
and Iran. The new legal commitment to tackling the drugs menace also
appears to be driven by the arrest of hundreds of Tanzanian drug mules
and seizure of drug consignments abroad. Mr William Lukuvi, the Minister
of State in the Prime Minister’s office responsible for Policy,
Coordination and Parliament, confirmed the development, saying: “We are
forming a new agency…a new force to fight drugs. We are thinking of even
bigger things.” The Citizen on Saturday has learnt that the draft Bill
proposes a special court to adjudicate drug cases. The Bill is in the
final stages and it is expected that stakeholders and the general public
will review it before it is tabled in Parliament.
One of the key features of the draft is that it
cuts down significantly the time needed to certify the kind and value of
drugs seized and how long drug cases are heard and decided.
With the new Bill, Mr Lukuvi says, lack of a
certificate of value and type of drugs from the drug control commission
and the chief government chemist “will no longer be an excuse for drug
traffickers to earn their freedom”.
“The proposed law will shorten the time to certify
the drugs and, once they are proved to be illicit, they will be
immediately destroyed,” he added. “We don’t need to have the drugs in
stores for 10 years or more while the cases are still pending in
courts.”
Some of the new provisions are aimed at responding
to widespread criticism directed at the judicial officials and judges,
who have been accused of giving drug dealers a soft landing. The courts
have been accused of openly disregarding the law and freeing suspects.
Some judges have granted bail to traffickers against Section 27 (a) (1)
of the Drugs and Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Drugs Act, 1995, which
forbids the release of people charged with trafficking in drugs valued
at more than Sh10 million.
The same bail conditions have been specified in
Section 148 of the Criminal Procedure Act. One of the examples that is
likely to haunt the Judiciary is the release in August 2012 of two
Pakistanis charged with trafficking in 179 kilogrammes of heroin worth
Sh6.2billion.
In releasing them, Judge Upendo Msuya pointed to
lack of a certificate of value for the seized drugs. The ages of the
suspects were also not specified. The suspects later escaped. An arrest
warrant was issued against them last week in a wave of fresh hearing of
cases that have stagnated for many years.
The US government’s 2012 International Narcotics
Control Strategy Report lists inadequate sentencing and relatively
modest bail as part of the narcotics problems in Tanzania.
Mr Lukuvi told The Citizen on Saturday that the
new draft Bill will scrap the fine option for convicted drug dealers. He
added: “They (convicts) know their bosses will pay the fines. They no
longer show fear. So the option of a fine will no longer feature in the
new law. We want the new Bill to be extremely punitive on drug
offenders.
source: Mwananchi