Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente has urged prosecutors to put to good use the powers conferred on them, conduct in-depth investigations and ensure that cases are well studied before taking them to courts.
The Premier said this on Thursday, April 22, 2021 in Kigali while presiding over the swearing-in ceremony of 23 prosecutors including two at national level, six at intermediate level and 15 at primary level.
They were appointed by two Cabinet meetings which were held separately on March 6, 2020 and on April 14, 2021.
Ngirente reminded them of the importance of their work and its significance in ensuring law enforcement and justice for all.
He urged them to uphold professionalism in fulfilling their duties.
“Prosecution is an important work that has a great contribution to the reputation of Rwanda’s justice system in particular. It requires dedication, headwork, carefulness and discernment. Therefore, you are requested to do it professionally through discharging the responsibilities for which you have taken an oath,” he said.
“We request you to discharge your duties by complying with laws, avoiding partiality, corruption which has been the case in some instances, and other related crimes, and always strive for dispensing justice to all,” he said.
He said that the government will continue to provide the necessary support to prosecutors to help them better carry out their responsibilities.
Roselyne Ninahaza who was sworn-in as a national prosecutor said that there is a need to join efforts with her colleagues in order to tackle corruption and other related crimes.
She said that they will put more efforts into making inquiries into crimes and preparing files, pointing out that sometimes examining crime scenes is a challenge due to limited resources.
“Reaching the scene of crime and making thorough investigation including interrogating witness for testimony in a case, is important. It should be given priority,” she said.
She has been an intermediate court judge since 2004 until appointed a prosecutor.
Camarade Gilbert Mbonyinshuti who was sworn in as a prosecutor at primary level said that carrying out thorough investigations is critical to achieving justice as it helps establish facts and produce evidence in courts. Mbonyinshuti has been a primary-level assistant prosecutor.
Though reported injustice cases are few, they represent an infringement on people’s rights.
For instance, according to the 2018/2019 activity report of the Office of the Ombudsman, the Ombudsman assessed 1,091 cases that people had filed claiming injustice committed in court judgments.
Out of these, 43 were forwarded for further scrutiny to the Inspectorate of Courts, and from these, 29 or 67.4 per cent were sent back to court for retrial.
The Supreme Court later tried 23 of these cases, and confirmed that there was injustice in 20 or 86.9 percent of them.