Where British Justice Fails

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 22 September 1934, Page 14

Where British Justice Fails

AN endeavour to adapt the British code of of justice to local conditions has been ■PL the problem facing the Commission of Inquiry into the Administration of Justice in Kenya, Uganda and the Tanganyika Territory in criminal matters, whose report has been issued as a Blue Book. “It is no exaggeration to say that the machinery for the administration of justice as apparently set up by law in these territories does not work, and, as at present constituted, cannot work,” states the report. The system, it is stated, failed because of: The conferring of excessive jurisdiction on magistrates of the subordinate courts; the excessive use of the power of investing magistrates with the jurisdiction of the High Court; and the fact that the High Courts of the territories are understaffed, with the result that circuits are held at too infrequent intervals and at only . a few of the larger centimes of population. The chief evil was the delay in trial by the High Court, and the consequences were farreaching. A system which allowed a man to remain in custody for months awaiting trial for murder could not escape condemnation. Stock thefts in some cases had assumed the proportions of a major political issue and some of the sentences passed by the Administrative officers were so severe as to be unjustifiable. Many of the recommendations are directed towards removing these defects. The Colonial Secretary, in a letter to the Governors, states that he has decided that effect should be given to those of the Commission’s recommendations in which all three Governments concur. Others should be referred to the Governors’ Conference in the hope that agreed conclusions may be reached. The Blue Book includes a despatch from Sir Bernard Bourdillon, Governor of Uganda, expressial racial disagreement with some of the Commission’s principal conclusions. Other recommendations of the Commission concern the death sentence and flogging. Although evidence was given in favour of flogging as a punishment for adults, the Commission was opposed to it for any but the most serious crimes. In order that natives should realise that the death sentence is carried out, the Commission recommends that representatives of the ' condemned man’s community should be able to see him before and after execution. On the question of murder in relation to witchcraft, it was found by the Commissioner that all the chiefs were unanimous in support of the death penalty for one who kills an alleged wizard. A Mwanza chief told the Commission that if a man had any proof that another was a wizard he should go to the native courts which were there for the purpose, and produce his iitiiiimatiitiiiiiiW'riMiiiiiiliiiiiimiiiiiiMiaiiiitortiiiiiii-wvtiiiiiiosiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii UitMiiaiiiiiiiiiniJJiiiiiniiiimiiiiiiiiiiiaitiiiiiiiii imuiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiMMiimiiiiiiiii

proof. If he could prove that the man was a wizard, then the native court would collect and burn his articles and put an end to the matter. If he took the law into his own hands in these days, he must be hanged. A reply to another question was that if a man kill another because he has been told by a diviner (or witch doctor) that the man is a wizard, it is just that he be sentenced to the penalty of hanging. Considerable other evidence concerning witchcraft was given before the Commission. . Mr Forsyth Thompson, District Commissioner, Entebbe, discussing heavy fines for theft, said: “The theft of a fowl worth 2s was punished with a fine of 40s and three months. On the face of it the fine seems preposterous But the natives explained that the stealing of fowls is a very serious matter, because it is one of the things used in witchcraft. If you steal a man’s fowl it is rather like stealing a man’s nail parings or hair; you have some influence oveyhim and are perhaps able to work evil on him.” A paper on witchcraft in the African section of the Anthropological Congress which w_as to have been read on August 3 in London by Professor E. Evans-Pritehard, of the Sudan, who had become ill, was read by the Rev. Edwin W. Smith, who presided. Mr Smith said that according to the notions of witchcraft in certain African tribes misfortune was due to witchcraft co-operating with natural forces. Later, a scheme whereby witchcraft in Africa could be eradicated was propounded by Professor F. H. Melland (of Northern Rhodesia). The one material aspect hitherto ignored "by the Legislature, he said, was not that the people were foolish, but simply that practically the whole population.believed that everyone could be bewitched. Explaining how he would deal with the witchcraft problem, Professor Melland said: “I would first of all say, ‘Sorry we have been acting foolishly, and now we want to help you. I would register and license all the bona-fide witch doctors, by which I mean diviners, who are called in professionally in such cases, and would with their assistance stamp out the unqualified practitioner who really only flourishes because of us. “There is no need to say we believe in witchcraft. All we need do is to say officially and openly that we accept the native belief m them and that' we are prepared to help him exorcise them. Thus would come co-operation, letting Christianity, education and many other things make great strides, for the drag would be taken off. Then, but not till then, can we use those forces to break down the belief. milliii. mull