Student calls for constitution to abolish the death penalty

Matern Kayera, The Citizen Correspondent

Mbinga, Ruvuma. 

A Form Five student, Ms Leticia Yebuka has said the death penalty should not be allowed in the new Constitution because it is against human rights.Ms Yebuka who studies at St. Lusie Secondary School in Maguu Village, Mbinga District, was speaking before the Constitutional Review Commission during the collection of wananchi’s opinions on the new laws.

She suggested to the Commission that the death penalty should be replaced by life imprisonment. She added that the Speaker of Parliament should not be a member of any political party and should not necessarily be an MP.

According to her, the tendency of getting the Speaker from a particular political party forces the person to act according to the will of their party.

“Under the multiparty system of politics, it would be unfair to have a Speaker who serves the interests of a particular party,” she said.

She also suggested to the Commission that the new laws should have a section that protects children from child labour.

She said children were being employed in the informal sector where they earned meagre payments. She suggested that the Constitution should also protect children’s rights to education.

Concerning education, she warned against the tendency of the government changing the curricula in primary and secondary schools that it was detrimental to their academic development.

She said such as situation affected both teachers and students, adding that teachers and students were not prepared psychologically to deal with the challenges of a new syllabus.

In an exclusive interview, Ms Yebuka told The Citizen that her future dream was to become a pharmacist. 

The Headmistress of St. Lusie Secondary School, Sister Janet Hyera, said the school has introduced a public-speaking session every Saturday for it’s students.

Source: The Citizen (24/09/2012): http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/news/4-national-news/25984-student-calls-for-constitution-to-abolish-the-death-penalty