Should I report my bhang-growing neighbour to the police?

My neighbour is growing bhang in his kitchen garden. Can I be arrested for not calling the cops on him? I would like to mind my own business, but my front door faces the weed patch; I can’t claim I didn’t know. I don’t want to be called an accomplice. What should I do?

No law makes one an accomplice unless there is a clear connection between them, a crime and the perpetrator of it. Nonetheless, your inquiry offers a chance to visit and examine some of the opportunistic and regressive policing practices that law enforcement officials and their agencies in Kenya exhibit and employ in the name of maintaining law and order.

Whether as a criminal or an accomplice, the general rules of criminal law apply to everyone who enters the criminal justice system, including the court that hears their case.

According to the principles outlined in Article 49 of the Constitution, a person who is charged with a crime merely bears the designation of a suspect, meaning that they are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. Since a crime in this context is an affront to the public's safety and interest, the burden of proof in a criminal case must be greater than the chance of success and must disprove all reasonable doubts.

This is because the punishment for the crime is supposed to be public-pleasing. Prosecutors are responsible for bringing criminal cases before the court because the law gives them the authority to file charges based on information supplied by the Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), amongst other investigating agencies.

To overturn the presumption of innocence, prosecutors must persuade the court that the accused person intended to commit the crime for which they are charged. A judge or magistrate may conclude that a crime was committed or attempted in one of two ways. The existence and display of unquestionable or irrefutable proof that the accused person was directly involved in the crime, and testimonies of witnesses regarding the various aspects concerning the crime, or the accused person.

Every prosecutor makes an effort to show that the accused person's action was intentional and must have been motivated by a premeditated premise. Since both prosecutors and accused individuals may offer facts to support their claims that either impeach guilt or innocence, Sections 107, 108, and 109 of its statute equally require all parties to provide proof. In a similar vein, both may depend on reliable witnesses to attest to the existence of facts or scenarios that the court may use as support for its ruling.

The Kenyan Penal Code's Section 20 states that anyone who had any involvement in another person's criminal act is considered a party to the offense. These are the categories: first, there is the individual who either does or does not act either situation leading to an offense: second is every person who does or omits to do any act that may enable or aid another to commit an offense: third, is every person who aids, abets, assists, and offers any help to another in committing an offense: and fourth, anyone who hires, procures, or counsels someone else to commit a crime.

Section 21 of the Evidence Act reiterates the legal expectation of intention, but among two or more persons. When two or more people collaborate to prosecute an unlawful purpose and, in the process, an offense is committed that is likely to have resulted from the prosecution of that purpose, the law considers each individual to have committed the offense.

Bhang, scientifically known as cannabis, is prohibited in Kenya under Schedule 3 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Control Act. This law and any other does not obligate anyone to make such reports. Those who likely report such incidents do it on goodwill as a response to reducing opportunities of harm for the larger public.

Nonetheless, since you do not meet the legal criteria for aiding, abetting, procuring, or assisting in any crime, Section 8, subsection (a) of this Act provides the closest means for law enforcement to question you. In this context, the term interest in land must be used or interpreted loosely.

According to the subsection, if someone with an interest in land knows that a prohibited plant is being grown there or that the land is being prepared for growing a prohibited plant and they fail to notify the officer in charge of the police station closest to the prohibited plant's growing location or their usual place of residence or business, they must demonstrate that they did not permit, cooperate with, or aid in the cultivation of a prohibited plant on that land. This only happens if such a person is invited as part of a criminal matter in court.