The Head of State Paul Kagame thanked the Abunzi for the work done in the past ten years since their inception. He told the crowd gathered today in the Amahoro stadium to celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Abunzi (literally: mediators) that Abunzi helped in bringing justice to both 1994 genocide perpetrators and survivors and that this is an indicator that Rwandans are politically mature enough to create effective solutions to their own daily challenges.
For the H.E, Paul Kagame the fact that Abunzi started after the Gacaca participatory justice ended strongly indicates that Rwandans in particular and Africans in general can come up with solutions that can last and bear positive outcomes especially in judicial matters .
Aftet the completion of the Gacaca’ mission, the Government has set up a new mechanism, namely Abunzi, so to uphold the Gacaca’ philosophy of strengthening the ties between Rwandans, ties that were split by the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi.
These mechanisms aimed at reducing that number of juridical cases that were to be treated by the courts, a situation that would cost much to the national treasury and not provide a constructive justice to both sides.
President Kagame said that setting up of the Abunzi process was laid upon three pillars;
The pillar number one related to fact Rwandans were the ones to handle their own problems.
The pillar number two was that Rwandans wanted to provide a relatively less costly justice that was necessary for a nation that survived a lot of serious hardships.
The pillar number three was to reduce the number of cases and people that courts were to receive throughout its operations.
This increased flow of people to the courts would hinder them from working and financially grow.
The Head of state urged them to keep working hard and promote justice that everyone needs and which is one of the pillars to social and economic welfare.
For the President, the task fulfilled in the past ten years has laid a foundation for more achievements in the coming future in justice matters.
UM– USEKE.RW