Corpun file 16205

Sunday Observer, Dar es Salaam, 24 July 2005

What are health officers up to?

By Editor

(extract)

A Dar es Salaam court recently imposed a penalty of three strokes of the cane on a teen-aged boy who pleaded guilty to washing cars in a prohibited site in the city; an offence said to amount to a public nuisance.

It may be of interest to those not very conversant with the law to learn that the boy, who fits into the "under-age" category, couldn't be fined and was caned instead, after having been medically examined and found to be fit enough to absorb the canes, as it were.

We are advocates of good governance, of which observance of the law is one of the main pillars. If law breakers were to be given the leeway to do as they please this would lead to lawlessness and attendant anarchy.

Lawlessness is not an eventuality any sane person or group of people desire. Hence the imperative of sticking to laws and penalizing offenders.

In flushing out potential and real offenders, however, certain fundamental factors must be considered critically, so that application of the law is total and not piece-meal.

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