On the special occasion of Africa Day, the President of Zambia announced his plans to abolish the death penalty row. According to President Hakainde Hichilema, the practice of death penalty is extremely degrading, inhumane and cruel and should be completely abolished. Since the announcement made by the President, several entities have supported this decision and one of them is noted philanthropist and businessman Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani. Dr. Rajan Mahtani is known for his successful businesses such as Mahtani Group of Companies and Finsbury Investments. Dr. Mahtani is also known for his philanthropic achievements such as the Prison Fellowship Zambia which was established more than three decades ago. It is a noted Christian Outreach program that focusses on ensuring that the gospel and teachings from the Almighty Jesus reach the prisoners and ex-prisoners of Zambia along with their families. Also, the program focusses on ensuring that the prisoners across Zambia are not devoid of basic human dignity and fundamental human rights.
According to Dr. Rajan Mahtani, death row is itself a severe punishment for the convicts as they do not know which day will be their last day on this planet. According to the statistics presented by Dr. Rajan Mahtani, more than 350 inmates are awaiting death row and among them around 30 convicts are women. These are the people who are already living a life of unknown, scared and regret. At the same time, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani has experienced that there are inmates who have transformed themselves by dedicating their entire lives to the service of the God. There is a growing consensus towards abolishing death penalty across the globe as well as across Zambia. The last death penalty execution in Zambia was given in the year 1997 by President Frederick Chilruba. Since then, Presidents across Zambia have been avoiding the death penalty or death warrant by using mercy prerogatives. As such, the announcement by the Zambian President is a step in the right direction.