Attorney General Urged to Redouble Efforts to Ensure Rule of Law

ENA, January 28/2020 The House of People’s Representatives (HPR) has urged the Attorney General to redouble efforts towards ensuring rule of law.

The House which discussed the half-year performance of the Attorney General today, commended its moves in revising and amending some laws.

Presenting the report, Attorney General Birhanu Tsegaye stated that assessments indicate that public satisfaction and trust on services rendered by the office have reached 71 percent.

He pointed out that the achievement is encouraging as it inspires moves toward making its services transparent and satisfactory.

The Attorney General, however, stressed the need for unwavering support of the House of People’s Representatives in getting rid of some legal obstructions in few regional states with regard to maintaining rule of law.

According to Birhanu, there are 1,596 suspects regions are not willing to hand over. Of those, 827 are in Benishangul-Gumuz, 655 in Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples State, 50 in Oromia, 33 in Somali, 9 in Addis Ababa,18 in Amhara, and 4 in Tigray.

Asked about the torture of detainees, the Attorney General replied “no detainees are tortured or kept in solitary confinement. This is because we undertake regular and random inspections in all the correctional facilities.”

Collaborative efforts are being exerted to root out corruption, Birhanu said, adding that “this is not satisfactory unless the embezzled money is returned.”

Meanwhile, members of the parliament stated the need to bring the pertinent stakeholders onboard in its efforts to ensure rule of law.