Know Your Rights (KYR)

Today I've decided to talk about a very tricky topic namely: the right to self defence. Before I go further let me just drop this disclaimer that this post does not in anyway support or promote violence. And now to our discussion. First of all self-defence as the name implies, is any act done to protect one's self or property from an unlawful attack or violence. The Constitution passively mentions this right when it talked about the right to life and it makes a lot of sense because there are certain urgent situations where it is not feasible to get the timely help of any of the various security agents when faced with imminent danger. However, this right must be exercised with great caution. Let's now proceed to the elements of a valid self defence. Based on several judicial authorities, a valid act of self defence should involve a process of reasoning. This implies that whatever you're doing in self defence must be reasonable/rational. Therefore unreasonable ac...

Today let's talk about your right to dignity, in other words, your right to be respected and treated accordingly as a human being.  Today's short post is meant to address the very common social media stories of brutality and oppression. For instance, you read stories of house helps maltreating their boss' children, or teachers maltreating students, or employers manhandling their employees especially maids, or security agencies brutalizing civilians, or acts of jungle justice or public executions/lynching, or sometimes unrelated persons inflicting brutal punishments on each other because of disagreements. In the eyes of the law such conducts are unjust, unlawful and punishable.  You will be liable for violating this right if you carry out these unlawful acts yourself or even if you get someone else to do it for you for example using the police or army or 'boys' to 'deal' with someone you are having issues with.  Please note that under the law, th...