On Thursday the Minister of Home Affairs Clement Rohee was unusually the recipient of a rebuke – by implication – from the Office of the President. In his customary unaffected fashion he said in a press conference on Wednesday that there appeared to be a disjointed criminal justice system, which was granting bail to murder accused. “The judiciary has now become totally unpredictable and case law is now thrown out of the window,” he was quoted as saying.
And that was not all. Mr Rohee went on to tell the media that while the executive was insisting on draconian penalties, among other things, to enhance public security, the judiciary was moving in the other direction and was becoming more favourably disposed to upholding the fundamental rights of accused persons. “But what about the fundamental rights of those who suffered and are traumatized for life?” he asked rhetorically. The courts no less than the executive and the police should be taking public interest into account, he said.
