New Justice Minister calls for teamwork

The new Minister for Justice, Johnston Busingye, yesterday told his staff that teamwork is key if the justice sector is to build on the progress it has registered over the last few years.

Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Karugarama (L) and Busingye sign documents during the handover ceremony yesterday. New Times,/John Mbanda.

The new Minister for Justice, Johnston Busingye, yesterday told his staff that teamwork is key if the justice sector is to build on the progress it has registered over the last few years.Busingye was speaking at the handover ceremony where former Minister Tharcisse Karugarama passed on the mantle after seven years in office."I am taking on the new task with hope that I will receive cooperation from the ministry’s staff and I also intend to work closely with everyone to ensure that we deliver as a team,” Busingye said.The Justice sector has undergone various reforms and among the key achievements in the last decade is the successful completion of the Gacaca courts that tried close to two million cases related to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.Foreign countries have also extradited genocide suspects following the reforms which helped raise the sector to international standards."Let’s work together and make the justice sector much better than the way it is, I count on your full support,” the new Minister added.Busingye joined the Rwandan justice sector in 1997 and served in various capacities. He has worked as a prosecutor, a Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, member of the law reform commission as well as a judge and president of the High Court.Before being appointed Minister for Justice, Busingye was Principal Judge of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) based in Arusha, Tanzania.His mandate was due to end on June 26.