Military sometimes burns seized oil theft vessels due to slow prosecution, says CDS

Christopher Musa, chief of defence staff (CDS), says the military sometimes resorts to incinerating vessels used for oil theft because of delayed prosecution. 

Musa spoke on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme.

He said oil bunkering litigations often collapse in court on the basis of technicalities.

“It has to do with the legal system, sometimes legal intercepts. You take it to court, it’s knocked out for one reason or the other,” he said.

“Again, this brings us to the legal system. We have to also review our legal system because of some of the punishments and prosecutions.

“Maybe we should have special courts that will treat cases as quickly as they are. That is very important.

“I think we need to review the punishment for offences.

“I will give you an example in the south-south. We arrest a vessel. How much is it? They (offenders) give them peanuts and the vessel is back,” the CDS said.

“That’s why we started burning the vessel, but then, again, people started talking about the environment.

“So you now are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. For us, burning those items once they are arrested, we started having peace.

“But as long as we keep on arresting them and handing them over and they go to the legal system, it becomes a problem. It takes a longer time to process.”

The defence chief added that weak legal outcomes discourage soldiers from risking their lives to make arrests.

“You go in, risk all your life, make an arrest; for one reason or the other, technical issues, the item is released tomorrow,” he said.

“You think that soldier is ready to sacrifice himself to go and make arrests again? It becomes a problem.

“In the middle east, terrorism cases are serious cases. If your name gets in there, even your family member, nobody will come.”