Vice President of Zambia, George Kunda

HANDS OFF CAIN MISSION IN ZAMBIA FOR ABOLITION AND MORATORIUM CONCLUDES

October 14, 2010: the mission in Zambia by Radical parliamentarians Elisabetta Zamparutti and Marco Perduca concluded with meetings with the foreign minister and the president of the Republic.
This morning the Hands Off Cain delegation met Foreign Minister Kabinga Pande, who represented the government forces in education and promotion of human rights in the country. “Regarding this, you have opened a door,” Pande said. He suggested the organisation of two seminars and a campaign of public information in view of a crucial event next year, the parliamentary examination of the constitutional reform draft presented by the National Constituent Conference. In February, at the end of an open debate, the article of the Constitution that allows the death penalty was confirmed by only one vote – 26 to 25.
Regarding the mission's other objective, a 'yes' vote by Zambia for the new pro moratorium Resolution in discussion at the United Nations, the Foreign Minister said that for this decision “an ad hoc council of ministers must be convened.”
The Hands Off Cain delegation was then received by George Kunda, Vice President of the Republic and Justice Minister, who was accompanied by his vice Todd Stewart. Both personally abolitionist, they confirmed that President Rupiah Banda, following in the steps of his predecessor Levy Mwanawasa, will not sign any execution decrees for those sentenced to death, even if capital punishment is kept in the new constitution. President Banda last commuted capital sentences in April of last year for 53 prisoners. The last executions in Zambia were in January 1997.
In the next few weeks the Hands Off Cain mission, to gain support for the abolitionist process in Africa and to find a new consensus for the UN Resolution on the moratorium on capital punishment, will go to three other African countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo and Mali. (Sources: HOC, 14/10/2010)