Are we there yet?

“If we think that we can secure our country by just talking tough without acting tough and smart, then we will misunderstand this moment and miss its opportunities. If we think that we can use the same partisan playbook where we just challenge our opponent’s patriotism to win an election, then the nation will lose. The times are too serious for this kind of politics”. Barack Obama

Indeed as a people we wake up every morning with various expectations from a country we live in.  Having a job should mean that almost basic needs are met with the income that’s earned and so is starting a business.

But most importantly there should be progress; people should have their vision fulfilled and have time to reflect the past and hope for a better future. History should always be told of the generation that missed the opportunities created by their struggle. Visitors should go away with life time memories and frequent visitors should be able to witness prosperity.

The world has witnessed the defunct communism, dictatorial rule of all sorts and democracies. Democracy triumphed over and above all the systems of governing. Its victory is characterised by its strictness of having a constitution that is followed to the letter and begs its leaders to upholding the rule of law. Respect and due regard to basic human rights and realise that human beings are equal.

Giving its real meaning of collective involvement and even distribution of wealth and opportunities; destroying all elements of favouritisms and nepotism which are inimical to its mission.

In the words of Barack Obama, “The strongest democracies flourish from frequent and lively debate, but they endure when people of every background and belief find a way to set aside smaller differences in service of a greater purpose”.

We will only be there if laws of the land are applied indiscriminately, respect for and due regard to human rights, wealth and opportunities evenly distributed. Political opponents encouraged and not silenced, freedoms safeguarded, life without trumped up cases and arbitrary arrests of adversaries.

Senior Ministers held responsible for their actions and held accountable regardless of their background because they are appointed in service of a greater purpose.

Citizens should be given an opportunity of being heard through free protest and demonstrations as is required by the constitution. The question should not be what is expected of the people but what is expected of those elected to represent them. Blaming culture should not be tolerated and independence of the judiciary high on the agenda. Due process and full independence of the judges are fundamental to our democracy.

The powers that may be should provide for an environment for academic freedom, this should be of right not of privilege and never discourage youngsters who are keen to join the race for leadership. Young people have a role to play and therefore should be made to feel useful in order to invest their potentials. To manipulate them is to discount what the future holds for them and the nation at large.

 One even wonders why we say “future leaders” when we cannot give a meaning to it, how can they become future leaders when we are not prepared to pass on the baton and there is nothing to prepare them for its challenges. To deprive the young of this right is just a disincentive to their success in the near future.

In my world and that of Robert F. Kennedy; “A young monk began the Protestant reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World and 32 year old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal. Give me a place to stand, said Archimedes and I will move the world. These men moved the world and so we can all”

The times are too serious for this kind of politics indeed, and until we live up to it and bring about real change I will never feel that we are there yet, are you?

Special dedication to my friend the late Abdul Karim Bosco Mwalabu who died on 11^th February 2012

Colonel Gaddafi

The world on 20 October 2011 was awakened by the news that Libya's Muammar has been killed. To me that news never took me aback nor was kind of surprised, I knew it that one day brother leader was to either be captured alive or found dead. At the end of the day that's the kind of choice he made.Brother leader made so many enemies than friends, although his wealth did try to suppress the damage. Its indeed a shame that people we revered for what they stood for can just blow that opportunity and become the worst nightmares of all time. Brother leader has ruled the country for over fourty years, surely someone like him would have seen it coming and quit at the earliest opporyunity available but thats what being in control sometimes can get you. You tend to listen and care less about people who put you to power. He saw what just happened to Mubarak in Egypt but he never put his head round that, his neighbour in Tunisia Ben Ali, still nevr gave a damn. These two leaders,Mubarak and Ali will be thanking God for still having their precious lives and still breathing. Had they insisted to go on perhaps today we would be reading same story. Brother leader never read the writings on the wall that times have changed and people cannot be taken for granted.

September in a nutshell

I have not been able to put together a blog this month and did less last August due to workload I had to deal with both at work and home. It has been very difficult to do so despite so many events unfolding before our eyes elsewhere in the world.

My Legal Practice Course is taking its toll but hey that is a good thing, I got to do this time. I cannot continue banking things for later.

What I want to do in this blog is to just comment on those popular events that have taken place in this month of September hitting headlines elsewhere in the world.

 But before anything else, Big cheers out there to all Moslems in the world who celebrated their Eid ul fitr marking the end of fasting in the month of Ramadan. This year too has seen so many forums on the actual sighting of the moon. Certain quarters believe that the sighting is just being blindly followed and not evidenced by real sighting of the said moon. Saudi Arabia is a culprit on this but this has been so for the past decade. Most parts of the Muslim world follow Saudi Arabia in almost everything including the sighting of the moon and these resenting groups have been there all the time. I did ask one cleric regarding this; he said to me that I should just get over it. I am hoping that there will be a solution to all this.

I begin with the United Nations, a speech made by Iran President Ahmedinejad, who claimed that September 11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers is an American government’s assault on its people led by former President George W. Bush. 

A number of delegates left the building in protest during the speech as they did not want to associate themselves with this kind of propaganda. Watching that on a local news network television, I was left inquisitive, pondered with so many questions. Most importantly, I wondered as to why some of the delegates remained seated and never seem to be bothered or taking an offense. As Netanyahu reiterated in his speech, that he expected all the delegates to have boycotted the speech and never let the Iranian president finish his speech.

Was he exercising freedom of speech? To some people including Ahmedinejad himself feel that way, they think they can do so as of an absolute right although this is not so. To others, he is a hero who could provoke America and make fun of its terrible incidents like that of September 11 right there in America. He is a brave man to sympathizers.

But does this make the United Nations an organisation that tolerates and encourage the exercise of freedom of speech on its corridors even if it is offensive in nature. My understanding is that this should be the case, if every speech and president was to be boycotted then what sort of an organisation would make the UN? United Nations knows that some countries are led by mad dogs and there is nothing they can do to deal with their issues. They can be isolated elsewhere but they should be given an opportunity of being heard in the United Nations like anybody else.

Still at the UN headquarters, the Palestinian bid of an independent state, President Abbas asked the United Nations to recognise Palestine as a sovereign state. This did not go down well, United States clearly expressed its position and some analysts claimed that president Obama was just destroying his historical speech he made in Cairo a year and half ago on Palestine.

Meanwhile the Israel Prime Minister urged United Nations to consider the dangers of seeing this bid through. As we expected the United States to veto, the only remaining question was to see which side the United Kingdom will take. What I make out of all these is that the Palestinian approach is that of moving on, and, peace process cannot be swayed by it.

In the same month we have seen the former leader of Egypt Hosni Mubarak bedridden to answer charges of corruption and murder in court. Shocking pictures of once the mighty leader of a great nation.

In North Africa, Libya’s Moammar Gadaffi’s regime finally disappeared; the Interim National Consultative council has moved its capital from Benghazi to Tripoli showcasing victory. The President received a warm welcome on arrival and promised to consolidate the broken relationship among the citizens and let there be peace again. The West has reiterated its support to rebuilding the country. 

While I am sceptical, I would have loved that Gadaffi be allocated wherever he is and put to task for the atrocities he has caused. If he is left out there how do we expect the people of Libya to move on while the beast is still at large?

In Zambia, the opposition candidate, Michael Sata, claims the hot seat of president in the General Election last week. To me Sata for the past years to last week has been considered as an underdog who posed no threat, despite being called King Cobra for his fire spitting tongue, to the sitting president of the country. Although his academic and life experience record is not attractive and might not look eye catching but no one could stop him from accomplishing his mission. Indeed colleagues at Victoria Station in London, where he used to work as a floor sweeper would be happy for what he has accomplished.

In Southern Africa today, most of surrounding countries neighbouring Zambia are either with a good president or a bad president whose head is sought come the General Election. As someone might have said that the wind of change is blowing again over Africa. I just hope this time it will leave behind useful debris than it did last time, it gave people hope that things were to change for the better and make the motherland once again a better place to live. But this is not the case today in Africa, leaders who take a country and destroy it until you feel like there is no hope of restoring this country… looting some prefer to call it. Citizens are reduced to beggars with no sense of hope that tomorrow will be different.

Injustice

Watching this week a minute appeal run on a national television to save men, women and children who are heavily affected by famine in Africa, something hit me in the face; I could not believe my eyes. It’s just appalling and unbelievable that even today in the 21^st century, some people somewhere in the world cannot have access to their basic familial requirements.

Why is this happening and why should people be subjected to such suffering, children in particular, whose fault is that? I was born and raised in Africa in a small house with a number of brothers and sisters; therefore I am aware of how bad things can be sometimes. I remember, we never used to ask for breakfast or lunch but we expected that at some point there will be something to get us go by. We did this because our both parents had no meaningful income and unemployed therefore bread winning was almost everybody’s responsibility including us children.

Now this situation in Africa brings memories back, to seeing those children dying before their mothers is something that reminds me that these parents are indeed helpless and cannot be  blamed for not trying because they have nothing left to save both their lives and the children.

When I was a kid, this kind of suffering seemed temporal and I spent day and night dreaming of having to wake up one day with a good life that’s enjoyed by our fellow kids elsewhere in the world. But I realise now that this was just a fantasy and seeing Children dying from starvation and malnutrition in Africa today tells me the same story that the problem is still there 30 years on.

The question is who should take a blame for all these untimely deaths? I reckon the culprit is an injustice that has rocked most African countries, the rich gets richer and the poor get poorer?

Injustice generally refers to misuse, abuse, neglect, or misfeasance that is uncorrected or else sanctioned by a legal system. It is gross unfairness suffered by the electorates who put these people to power and contribute to the well being of the country through their income tax.

In Africa, Political injustice is the most contributing factor of all the suffering that we have witnessed in this century. People are denied and deprived of their social and economic rights because of their mere choice of belonging to a certain group or having a different political ideology to that of the state.

Most people are impoverished not as a result of famine or anything but because of oppression and injustice by dominant groups.

No wonder, Somali militias played down the reports that the country is facing the worst in terms of food shortage. They deny that this is not true and maintaining that Western countries are exaggerating the extent of the problem and shouldn’t be believed. In Ethiopia, allegation of aid diversion and misuse levelled against the Ethiopian Government, instead of putting those funds where they are needed most and alleviate human suffering, they use international aid in cramping down political opponents and highly disregard the rule of law.

There are no food stocks, no good hospitals and personnel, no better schools and poverty is beyond belief.

It is injustice if people cannot be provided with their basic needs in any state or country while their leaders are massively enjoying the same. Innocent children are left to die with no fault of their own just because the country is so corrupt to an extent of even selling their own food stocks.

 It is injustice if the state fails to provide better education system in the country while their children and relatives are enlisted in overseas institutions just because they can afford it.

It is injustice when hospitals are turned into mortuaries where people just go to die because of lack of medical personnel and medicine.

Citizens fighting to get on the bus, while the president and his family is riding a convoy of the most expensive automobiles in the world.

Until injustice is stamped out entirely in Africa, African people shall remain in repression and suffering. Development will be the word they would live to hear every five years when a political leader is renewing his term in power.

The Holy Month of Ramadan

 Fasting in Islamic Jurisprudence

In Islamic Jurisprudence, Fasting is divided into two; Obligatory fasting and Optional (Man dub) fasting. In the first category there are also three types; what is obligatory because of time/season e.g. fasting in the month of Ramadan, what is obligatory because of the defect or reason e.g. fasting to compensate unfulfilled vow/oath made to oneself. Taking an oath in the name of Allah is in actual fact making Allah a witness to ones actions and going against that oath would be belying Allah.

My blog will focus on the fasting that occurs in Ramadan which is obligatory because of the time or the month of Ramadan according to Islamic calendar. It is one of the basic beliefs or acts that a Muslim is supposed to do.

Sources of Fasting

The Holy Quran 2:183: O you who believe! Observing the fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may become the pious Al-muttaqun.

The Sunnat: The sayings of the prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him), where he is reported to have said “Islam is built on five”, meaning five pillars of Islam and one of these pillars is fasting in the month of Ramadan. He is also reported to have said to an Arab villager (bedouin) when he was asked as to what is required of him, he replied “and fasting the month of Ramadan”.

Consensus: All the Jurists/scholars of Islam agree to its obligation and no difference in opinion is reported from any of them. They agree that fasting is prescribed to a mature Muslim, intelligent, not on a journey, fit to fast which excludes those suffering from different illnesses and menstruating women.

In the Muslim world the Holy Month of Ramadan is more of a rejuvenating time and religious festival than being apprehensive about the consequences of fasting. Ramadan requires a Muslim to abstain from food and any worldly desires/materials from early Morning Prayer till the sunset for the whole month of Ramadan. It is one of the five pillars of Islam and obligatory in its observation as prescribed in the Holy Quran except those whose lives are in peril due to illness or on a journey.

Ramadan emanates from Arabic word ramd which stands for dry sand, drought, emptiness and dryness. It denotes the fact that by observing fasting abstinence from all worldly desires including food is a fundamental requirement. It was prescribed to Muslims and became obligatory in the second year of the prophet’s migration to Medina.

It is always regarded as the tool that assimilates an individual who is fasting with those that cannot because of illness or in famine. Fasting is not only a supplication but it’s a disciplinary act imposed on the Muslim. It is the only way of connecting with those that are suffering; in return they take care of them by sharing the little that Almighty God has bestowed upon them. It is always said that you cannot understand the suffering of others unless you become part of them. Fasting is considered as a means of practicing self-control, a means of knowing what hunger is all about. Showing sympathy to the poor and the needy and the way of thanking the Almighty God for everything you have received in this world.

Everywhere I have travelled including Saudi Arabia, Muslims at this time of the year open their doors to accommodate and welcome everybody to join them and eat together during Iftar (breaking the fast). It is the month of unity, good deeds and more charity and no one would want to lose this chance that comes once in a year. But work to do more just in case he never lives to seeing another year.

As a Muslim therefore it is important to observe fasting with pure intention of pleasing the Almighty God and not anyone else. Being wary of the fact that Fasting is the only act of worship that God Almighty reserves the right of ownership and mere declaration of fasting does not make it good or acceptable. It is God and God alone who knows as to whether your fasting is good or not. As a way of an example you may go behind your colleague’s back, drink or take some food while pretending that you are still fasting. And no one can ever judge you differently because they have no clue as to what you have just done but only God the Almighty is aware of your actions.

Why do people protest?

In this blog, I would like to explore reasons why some of us feel the importance of protest and demonstrations and take to the streets. Recently there have been fully blown demonstrations and protests in different countries of the world. To my surprise the protests have not only hit third world countries but also super power countries of the world, countries with impeccable record of economic performance as well as democracy and rule of law.


In the United Kingdom, students tuition fees hiking plan triggered student protest, Conservative Government cuts plan also triggered protests from the public. Protest I think, is the only way of expressing resent from those policies that would ultimately affect our well being or acts that are already encroach our birth rights.



Demonstration is a mass expression of public sentiments: popular celebration, anger, presentation of political demands, or protest (a march or meeting of some kind). It is a right governed by and enshrined in the constitution that can be exercised at anytime.
In the 21st Century most of these demonstrations have revolved around presentation of political demands or protest. In a democracy, there is always a standard of governance that is anticipated from political leaders in control. These standards are fairly explained in their manifestos which when presented to the people they are done in the form promises, the government of the day is expected to uphold and live up to that promise.


It is not true that the police or powers that may be should have the power to stop or authorise the protest but it is important that the law enforcement agencies be notified about their taking place.


Before the victory of the socialist system, the political demonstration was a form of revolutionary struggle by the proletariat and the toiling masses. The development of the revolutionary movement was accompanied by political demonstrations; they were already a widespread phenomenon in the 17th- and 18th-century epoch of bourgeois revolutions, especially in the years of the Great French Revolution of 1789-94. In the 19th century, the political demonstration became an important form of working-class political struggle. Great political demonstrations took place during the struggle of English workers for electoral reform, the Lyon weavers uprising of 1831-34, the Chartist movement, the Revolution of 1848, and the Paris Commune of 1871.
Political demonstrations took on an especially sharp character in the imperialist epoch and were widespread in both the metropolitan centers and the colonies as a powerful form of struggle against imperialism, colonialism, racism and the unleashing of imperialist wars, and for peace and socialism.


Nelson Mandela and black South Africans used protests and demonstrations to stamp out the brutal regime of Apartheid White rule. In Ukraine and elsewhere in the world demonstrations have helped to sort out various political problems resulting from unfair and rigged elections.


Governments of the world cannot therefore rule out the possibility of having their citizens demonstrate against their policies, economic failure, nepotism/racism and rampant human rights violations.
Mass demonstrations follow where the government has conspicuously failed to accommodate the wish of the people who ushered them to power. As an example in Egypt, people were tired with rampant corruption and abuse of power from Hosni Mubarak and his government. In the Republic of Malawi, people are tired of unchecked nepotism within the ranks of the government, Forex shortage, fuel and abuse of power by the president and his political aides. There is also mass human rights violation which goes to the heart of those absolute liberties that cannot be derogated no matter what. The leader has ignored the wish of the people who voted him to power and forgotten his responsibility of upholding the rule of law.


Protest is not civil unrest but they are synonymous, political leaders would use to suppress protest in fear of civil unrest but they are not necessarily the same unless where the government does not seem to listen and not seen to be doing something about the public displeasure.


Civil disorder, also known as civil unrest or civil strife, is a broad term that is typically used by law enforcement to describe one or more forms of disturbance caused by a group of people. Civil disturbance is typically a symptom of, and a form of protest against, major socio-political problems; the severity of the action coincides with public expression(s) of displeasure. Examples of civil disorder include, but are not necessarily limited to: illegal parades; sit-ins and other forms of obstructions; riots; sabotage; and other forms of crime. It is intended to be a demonstration to the public and the government, but can escalate into general chaos. This is what happened in Egypt at Tahrir Square, Mubarak took the voices of the public for granted but ultimately was forced to resign and held responsible for those who lost their lives under his authority.


Finally I think it is a blessing in disguise to have people demonstrate against their governments. It is the only way of having the government to connecting with its people at a national level and should not look like a protest to depose that government or the president unless the president does not want to listen to their voices and their sentiments. 
To all political leaders of the world I say sort out the mess or people will not stop demonstrating because it is of right to do so.

Comparative Law: Necessity in Islamic Law and English law

There is a general concept similarity in what constitute a defence of necessity in English and Islamic legal systems. In both legal systems, the individual committing an offence has to be driven by a circumstance of necessity. Duress of circumstance in English law or Ikrah in Islamic law also falls under this category of law.

Although English law has over the years been reluctant to accept and apply it as a defence until recently, the courts are ready to accept it as a defence of some offences in criminal law. Duration and the limit of how far an individual can go in order to eliminate the circumstance is one of importance and the type of the offence involved is very crucial when it comes to accept the defence of necessity. Therefore a mere circumstance of necessity would not constitute the defence.

The defendant must stop committing the offence as soon as s/he reasonably can as duress of circumstances cannot excuse the commission of an offence after the time when the threat has ceased: R v Pommell. I will demonstrate below how this also applies in Islamic law but it is worth remembering that if the court is satisfied an acquittal is the only outcome. And as in Islamic law no sin/offence is said to be committed under necessity.

 I think the main reason is that for someone to have sufficient motive and intention to commit an offence or break the law all the circumstances to it must be under his control not faulting other operatives that led him to lose his control to do what he did. More recently the courts have begun to show a willingness to allow the defence of necessity, or duress of circumstances as some judges have described it, where there is a fear of death or serious bodily injury.

The three principles of the defence and the two-stage test were explained by the Court of Appeal in R v Martin (1988). The word necessity implies a situation where having explored all the available options one would not do without having to commit the alleged crime. This principle is a general defence in English law in certain offences and the leading case is R v Dudley & Stephens (1884), where two shipwrecked sailors killed and ate the cabin boy. They were convicted of murder. This case was affirmed by the House of Lords in R v Howe (a case on duress by threats) and until recently it was commonly thought that a general defence of necessity did not exist in English law.

 In Islamic law, necessity arises where an individual is forced by circumstances to have done what he did. Necessity or Dharurah as it is called in Arabic is governed by the Quran and the Sunnat and their application has been an extensive area where Jurists of the four schools of Islamic Jurisprudence have differed on what really constitute a defence of necessity. This is clearly seen in their various books of Islamic Jurisprudence belonging to these schools; I will not attempt to discuss them individually but will suffice to flag up two or three correct opinion on the subject.

There is a leading and principle maxim on the law of necessity in Shariah which has various minor branches protruding from it. It has a general application and accepted in shariah law on issues such as Jinayaat (crimes), muaamalat (transactions) and other religious aspects observed by individual such as consuming wine for medical purposes when advised to do so by physicians or doctors.

Examples of offences under this category; eating anything from animals slaughtered not in the name of Almighty as prescribed in the Quran (haraam meat), quenching thirst with wine and denouncing Allah under duress of circumstances. The maxim of “Necessity makes things that are prohibited by the law not prohibited” is sourced from the verse in the Quran 5:3, “…….but as for him who is forced by severe hunger with no inclination to sin (such can eat these above mentioned meats) then surely, Allah is Oft-forgiving, most merciful”.

 It is also worth mentioning that necessity in Islamic law includes Dharurat, haajat, makhmaswat and all these names are used in the Quran and sunnat to imply necessity. Another maxim emanating as a branch from the leading maxim above is that “need is of the same category as necessity”. It illustrates that there may be a difference between “necessity” and “need” but dire need may be of the same category as necessity.

Consequently, need may be a defence and generally accepted in the Islamic courts as in the examples above. Muslims are not allowed to eat pork or any extracts from it but they can do so in time of need/haajat such as the time of starvation and famine where food is scarce. The principle is that it has to be done without inclinations to commit a sin. Necessity works to suspend the law at the time the alleged sin is committed. A typical example in Islamic law among other events is that of a man who was caught stealing during the reign of Omar Bin Alkhtwaab, the second caliph. He was set free when he claimed a defence of necessity to have driven him to what he did and because at the time there was rampant food shortage in the country.

Of recent, scholars have extended this law to transactions such as mortgages and loans where in conventional banks no credit agreement comes without a requirement of paying interest on them including credit cards. Riba or usury/interest is not permitted in Islam and those who take and pay interest are considered to have waged war against the Almighty God and usury is one of the greatest sins in Islam.

The law of necessity will only apply under those circumstances if all other means of purchasing a property islamically i.e. without interest have been exhausted and there is a dire need of that property. Besides, there has to be greater harm in order to use this defence to the well being of the family and that it is very expensive to rent properties in the country. I don’t really see how a person who owns a property would use this kind of defence to buy a second home as his/her need will be out of question in this case.

 In the law of necessity there is also a requirement of directness and immediacy which was explained by the Court of Appeal in: R v Cole. At the defendant’s trial for robbing two building societies, he pleaded that he had done so because of his inability to repay money lenders who had threatened him, his girlfriend and child. The Court of Appeal held that the defence of duress of circumstances was not available. For the defendant to rely on the defence of duress of circumstances there would have to be a greater degree of directness and immediacy between the danger to the defendant or others and the offence charged. What was required was evidence that the commission of the offence had been a spontaneous reaction to the prospect of death or serious injury.

Islamic law on Immediacy, the requirement is that whatever is allowed has to be measured according to the need.