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Visit by the Minister of Justice to the urban commune of Ntahangwa

ByWebmaster

Feb 2, 2023

BUJUMBURA February 2nd (ABP) – The Minister of Justice, Mrs. Domine Banyankimbona, made on Tuesday 31, 2023, a visit to the urban commune of Ntahangwa in the City Council of Bujumbura, as part of the visits by members of the government to all the countries. She was accompanied by the magistrates, the presidents of the courts and other judicial officials of the country. She explained that the objective of her approach was to exchange with the people of that municipality, in the context of improving the services of justice to the satisfaction of the plaintiffs.

Mrs. Banyankimbona said that the revitalization of the justice sector in the service of the well-being of the population is one of the prerequisites for achieving development, as the Head of State keeps repeating. Such an objective is still far from being achieved, according to the report drawn up by the Minister of Justice. She said that during the trips she has already made in the interior of the country, most of the complaints collected were justice-oriented. Mrs. Banyankimbona attributes the shortcomings observed to the “greediness of certain plaintiffs and judicial officials”. For her, this situation must end, “justice must be cleaned up to achieve the objectives set by the President of the Republic”.

Despite this situation, significant progress has been observed with regard to the objective set to close overdue files. Thus, Mrs. Domine indicated that since the appeal made at the end of 2021, the governors have contributed to implementing the judgments rendered, currently the step taken is satisfactory, she said, calling on the governors of the provinces to continue on the same momentum.

                                View of the participants

People who say they are “aggrieved by justice” have had the opportunity to submit their grievances to the Minister. The “illegal” ownership of family property, while the trials are still in progress, were mentioned.

In that regard, Mrs. Banyankimbona warned the judicial or administrative officials who will be found guilty of such acts, severe sanctions will be imposed on them, she indicated. Others mentioned the slowness in the application of the judgments rendered. Here, she called on the executives of the Ministry of Justice to monitor their subordinates in order to  realize their performance in relation to the number of judgments rendered which are closed. She blamed such a delay on their incompetence. According to her, “some magistrates do the work in slow motion and cannot even close a single case a day”.

The Minister of Justice called on the magistrates to proceed as soon as possible to the delivery of documents for the plaintiffs who have recourse to justice for the continuation of the trials. It was at the time when the people of Ntahangwa raised that certain judicial officials are partisan and provide documents to a party to the conflict so that the time for filing appeals expires, thus disadvantaging the party which is not in their favors”.