Murder Is A No-No

ALLOW me to give my opinion on the issue of bringing back the death penalty to Namibia.

I was watching and listening to ‘Talk of the Nation’ program on NBC recently. I listened well and I really felt that Namibians are a peace-loving nation.During the ‘Talk of the Nation’ program all the members who were debating the issue were opposed to the death penalty.There was only one caller from Oshakati who was supporting the death penalty, and gave the example of Botswana where the death penalty is legal, saying that crime or criminal activities in Botswana have decreased because of this.According to my belief and considering that Namibia is a Christian nation, I believe that the death penalty will not be the real solution to the problem we are facing today with those committing serious crimes such as murder.The only solution that I can think of is that the justice system of Namibia should give maximum sentences to those found guilty of such serious crimes and the Namibian Police should be well equipped and trained to protect the nation.We cannot change our Constitution just for a death penalty and Namibia as a Christian nation should respect and practice our faith.Nobody has the power to take away the life of someone else, no matter what crime that person has committed.According to the Ten Commandments “thou shall not murder” means that God is telling us that life is precious and no one shall take the life of someone else.If we bring back the death penalty in Namibia, we will be disobeying the Ten Commandments.As a citizen concerned about the horrific crimes that are committed in Namibia I believe that even if we catch those behind this horrific killings we cannot solve murder with another murder.Let us Namibians, a peace-loving nation, solve these problems according to the Constitution and our Christian faith.T E David, WindhoekI listened well and I really felt that Namibians are a peace-loving nation.During the ‘Talk of the Nation’ program all the members who were debating the issue were opposed to the death penalty.There was only one caller from Oshakati who was supporting the death penalty, and gave the example of Botswana where the death penalty is legal, saying that crime or criminal activities in Botswana have decreased because of this.According to my belief and considering that Namibia is a Christian nation, I believe that the death penalty will not be the real solution to the problem we are facing today with those committing serious crimes such as murder.The only solution that I can think of is that the justice system of Namibia should give maximum sentences to those found guilty of such serious crimes and the Namibian Police should be well equipped and trained to protect the nation.We cannot change our Constitution just for a death penalty and Namibia as a Christian nation should respect and practice our faith.Nobody has the power to take away the life of someone else, no matter what crime that person has committed.According to the Ten Commandments “thou shall not murder” means that God is telling us that life is precious and no one shall take the life of someone else.If we bring back the death penalty in Namibia, we will be disobeying the Ten Commandments.As a citizen concerned about the horrific crimes that are committed in Namibia I believe that even if we catch those behind this horrific killings we cannot solve murder with another murder.Let us Namibians, a peace-loving nation, solve these problems according to the Constitution and our Christian faith.T E David, Windhoek