Draconian laws shoot the messenger

Without going into the merits of the case against the Sunday Standard editor, the charge he is facing is a reminder how easily the more draconian sections of the Penal Code may be used or misused. The Penal Code – or the law governing what crimes are and their punishment – is a malleable piece of legislation that countless authorities across the world have used for one purpose or the other – rightly or wrongly – outside the explicit law.

In Africa, most Anglophone countries inherited their penal codes unchanged from colonial powers who previously used them to disenfranchise, intimidate and imprison the indigenous majorities.