Plea bargain speeds cases

Malawi is the only southern African country without guidelines on plea bargain in criminal matters despite the law providing the same. Zambia, South Africa, Tanzania and a host of members of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) have enacted rules on plea bargain. Malawi is conducting a pilot project on plea bargain, starting with homicide offenders at Maula Prison.

Plea bargain allows accused persons waive their right to trial in exchange for a lenient sentence or lesser charge than the courts would have imposed had the accused been found guilty following a trial. In Malawi, Section 252 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Code sanctions plea bargain opportunities. However, the country lacks the necessary guidelines.

In determining the Republic v Oswald Lutepo case, the court makes it clear that plea bargain must be favoured and encouraged because it speeds up the delivery of justice and is less costly. However, critics argue that the procedure they despise as a charge bargain does not reflect the correct crime committed by the accused. To them, a plea bargain denies the public fair participation in the trial since it is negotiated at the table away from the public.

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Negotiating your own punishment does not deter hardcore and would-be criminals, the argument goes. Despite the advantages and disadvantages of plea bargain, overcrowding in the country’s prison makes it a step in the right direction. Malawi needs a clear plea bargain system more than some of our fellow Sadc countries. It is therefore a step in the right direction that such a pilot project has been initiated.

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