The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights in charge of Relations with Institutions opened a workshop this Tuesday, September 12, 2023 at the house of culture in Bobo-Dioulasso. The objective is to prepare the preliminary draft of the law amending the code of criminal procedure.
The Burkinabè government is in the process of reforming justice so that it responds to the real aspirations of the populations. This is how it has started innovations since 2015 aimed at improving the quality of the public justice service. These reforms led to the adoption of Law 040/AN of May 29, 2019 establishing the code of criminal procedure in Burkina Faso.
However, despite these major innovations brought by this law, the application by the courts of this legal framework in criminal matters is confronted with inadequacies and gaps. This hinders the effective functioning of criminal courts. It is with the aim of remedying these inadequacies and shortcomings that the supervisory ministry organized this workshop in order to develop the preliminary bill amending the code of criminal procedure. The workshop runs until September 16, 2023 and brings together around thirty participants, including actors in the penal chain of Burkina Faso. The work will take place in groups and in plenary.
Correcting inadequacies and gaps
According to Me Edasso Rodrigue Bayala, Minister of Justice and Human Rights, in charge of Relations with Institutions, “It is time to move towards alternative measures such as settlements in customs fraud instead of going to systematic imprisonment. For example, there are thousands of detainees that the government takes care of even though they could be useful for work of common interest.” He further stated that, “this will ensure that our criminal justice is a justice that better meets the aspirations of our populations”. This workshop follows two workshops organized in 2022, namely those from October 24 to 27, 2022 in Koudougou and from November 21 to 25, 2022 in Bobo-Dioulasso.
The minister in charge of justice ensures that after the development of the reforms, the preliminary draft of the law will be presented to the Council of Ministers by the end of 2023. This is why he invited participants in constructive debates with a view to arriving at proposals which will make it possible to correct the inadequacies and gaps in the code of criminal procedure. Clearly, the Bobo-Dioulasso workshop will give rise to reflections which will result in original proposals adapted to the realities of our country. In her address, the Secretary General representing the governor of the Hauts-Bassins region, Mariama Konaté/Gnanou, welcomed the government’s initiative through the Ministry of Justice. According to her, given the experience of the participants, this session will result in real proposals on the drafting of the preliminary draft of the criminal procedure code of Burkina.
Ben Alassane DAO
