President of Zambia, Hakainde Hichilema, announces his plans on abolishing the death penalty. It is a bold plan and also very difficult to achieve but has received significant positive response from across the nation. One of the supporters of this decision has been noted businessman and philanthropist Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani and his philanthropic organization Prison Fellowship Zambia. Established more than three decades ago, Prison Fellowship works towards several aims including fundamental human rights, human dignity for the prisoners, their families, transparent criminal justice as well as bringing the teachings and learnings from Jesus Christ to these prisoners for transformation.
Dr. Rajan Mahtani, in a recent interview at the ‘Mast Newspaper’ stated explicitly that the death penalty or capital punishment does nothing to solve the problem of crimes and criminal activities in Zambia. Zambia currently has more than 350 inmates under death penalty and among them around 25-30 inmates are women. These are the people who are getting up every day not knowing if this will be their last day or not. At the same time, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani also stated that he has observed several inmates and have also met them who have sought great comfort and shelter in the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are people within correction facilities who have already dedicated their lives towards repentance and full dedication towards gods’ services. Dr. Mahtani also noted that most of the previous Presidents have avoided death penalty by using different prerogatives. However, none of them actually worked towards abolishment of the tradition from its core. The current President of Zambia has taken the right step towards this direction and Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani along with his company Prison Fellowship Zambia has extended full support towards this mission.
As such, Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani applauded the decision made by the Zambian President. He said that although the road to make this decision a reality is long and difficult, it can be made possible with right reforms and support.