The Minister for Justice, Johnston Busingye, has told professional court bailiffs to use their competence to help government recover public funds.

Busingye made the remarks on Friday in Kigali at a meeting with professional court bailiffs grouped under Rwanda Court Bailiff Association.

"Whoever has any public funds should repay willingly, failure to do that the government will seek all possible means to recover it using professional court bailiffs,” he said.

"We have recovered over Rwf 400million and over Rwf2.1 billion is yet to be recovered. This money needs to be repaid and you’re the ones to help us,” Busingye told the court bailiffs.

He added that the government has trained about 100 professional court bailiffs that will help recover the money, adding that 30 have started working and their efforts are bearing fruits.

"You have capacity to do your job professionally such that people who lost cases in court repay public funds,” Busingye said.

Jean-Pierre Kamana Karinijabo, a bailiff, said they are ready to work closely with the government to recover all the funds.

"We have been trained and we are ready to play our role professionally to recover government funds. However, it’s unfortunate that some people who owe the government are still public servants, and most of their wealth is not registered to them. If they are not willing to pay, their salary should be deducted by the banks where it is channeled through,” he said.

Thiery Rudasingwa Simba, another professional court bailiff said it’s their responsibility to help the government recover funds.

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