NPPA to put emphasis on speeding up justice

The National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA), in its strategic plan for 2009-2012 is going to put more emphasis on speeding up the Justice system thereby ensuring its obligations as set by the constitution. This was revealed by Alphonse Hitiyaremye, the Deputy Prosecutor General, in an interview with The New Times during the final validation meeting of the draft strategic plan which took place at Hotel Novotel yesterday. According to Hitiyaremye, the justice sector in the past had been characterized by slowness which has been causing a lot of inefficiencies in the system. But the four-year strategic plan was going to address the issue by working with the National Police and courts to speed up justice. Among other issues that NPPA will put much emphasis on, are the fighting embezzlement of funds which has been seen as a discouraging factor to investors; fighting domestic violence and following up and tracking of genocidaires through specialised units that have been put in place. “We have put there many policies in this strategic plan and these policies will be executed through numerous specialised units which will be doing the work of following up and tracking different crimes,” said Hitiyaremye. According to the strategic plan document that The New Times has seen, NPPA will also aim at assuring universal access to justice in Rwanda through setting up an effective, efficient and affordable system accessible to all citizens especially vulnerable groups. The national prosecution office will also focus on establishing a legal frame work and a national policy that will bring effectiveness and improvement of the judicial system. Through this, unprocessed dossiers will be reduced and execution of sentences will improve. Ends