Local mediators (Abunzi) have been urged to uphold their oath by distancing themselves from different malpractices in their work.

The call was made by Johnston Busingye, the Minister for Justice, during the issuance of mobile phones to 602 mediators of Ngororero District, the last phase of the mobile phone distribution exercise that started on March 8, to ease abunzi’s operations.

Minister Busingye told them to work as professionals, be truthful, responsible and trustworthy.

"70 per cent of problems that went to courts before are now solved by abunzi…Thus, you should avoid all forms of corruption in your work”, he said.

Abunzi cited transport and lack of offices among the main challenges, to which Busingye promised a solution.

"We are giving you mobile phones and this is not the end, we are aware of your concerns and there are more facilities to come,” he said.

Caritas Mukandasira, the Governor of the Western Province, told the abunzi to use the mobile handsets to improve service delivery.

Jean Baptiste Ntirenganya, the representative of abunzi in Ngororero District, said communication means had been a challenge in their work.

"We have to talk to our colleagues frequently. We were supposed to use our own money and this was costly,” he said.

"We are already benefiting from government schemes like VUP and Girinka. Now that we have got these phones, our work has been made easier,” he said.

A total of 17,941 mediators, countrywide, have been given mobile phones as promised by the President during the 10th anniversary of abunzi in October 2014.

Abunzi will use the devices to communicate with one another free of charge.

The handsets were provided through the Ministry of Justice in partnership with Airtel Rwanda.

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