Minijust demands budget increment

THE Ministry of Justice (Minijust) has requested for an increment in its budgetary allocation for the Fiscal Year 2008 to mainly enable it register success in the final stages of Gacaca courts ahead of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) completion date.The extra funding would also go to other institutions that are under the ministry, including the National Human Rights Commission and Community Service office (TIG) to help them better execute their duties.Esperance Nyirasafari, the Secretary General (SG) of Minijust, made the submissions while addressing parliamentarians this week about the 2008 budgetary proposals.Finance Minister James Musoni slashed the ministry’s allocation by 33 percent, from Frw10 billion this year to Frw8 billion next year. He presented the budget to the Chamber of Deputies last month.Musoni justified the cut saying that Gacaca jurisdiction is in the final process and that there was no need to allocate much money for the community justice.Nyirasafari said that there are plans to establish a taskforce charged with the transfer of cases from the ICTR in Arusha, Tanzania after the UN court mandate next year. “That should come with extra funding,” she told the chamber’s Standing Committee on budgetary affairs, she said. “We request you to allocate more funds to specific programmes that we plan to do that were not considered in the recent 2008 budget proposal,” she said.She explained that the ministry needs extra funds to be able to carry out Gacaca jurisdiction in the first category that would continue even after the official closure of Gacaca jurisdiction. The ministry is also in the process of reforming some laws that would correlate with those of other East African Community (EAC) members, she added.Eng. Evariste Bizimana, the Executive Secretary of TIG National Committee, said that with over 45,000 convicts expected to engage in community service, there is need to budget for the increasing number. He said there are plans to increase on the number of solidarity camps from 30 to 90 countrywide for the training of skills that would enable them contribute to national development. Ends