Justice Ministry Seeks ETB 9.5 Bln To Back Five-Year Reforms | The Reporter Ethiopia

Conflict, economic crime, corruption cited as major bottlenecks

Officials at the Ministry of Justice say they require close to 10 billion Birr to implement an overhaul of the legal system before the decade is out.

A new five-year plan issued by the Ministry seeks 9.5 billion Birr, one billion of which officials hope to source from non-government sources, to undo a range of “strategic bottlenecks” they warn are limiting the state’s ability to prosecute crimes.

The document argues the need to address a lack of clarity, accountability, and professionalism in the legal system as well as the prevalence of corruption, low legal perception among the public, inadequate crime prevention mechanisms, and limited collaboration with international entities.

It cites that reforms in the civil society, media, investment, and human rights arenas implemented in recent years have yielded positive results, and calls for similar reforms in the legal system. The document also notes that armed conflicts in the country have been a major obstacle to reform efforts over the past decade.

Justice officials caution that reforms will face challenges across several fronts. Under political challenges, they include unpredictable and fast-changing geopolitics, the rise of narratives that erode national unity, expansion of organized crimes and terrorism, increasing security and instability issues, and a lack of accountability to fight corruption.

In terms of economic hurdles, they foresee growing unemployment driving crime, the absence of strong legal mechanisms to right increasingly sophisticated economic crimes, a reduction in donor funding, and the impact of inflation on court and prosecutorial budgets.

Under social challenges, human trafficking, expansion of drug and crime networks, declining reliance on discourse, diminishing service provision in light of a population boom, and the public’s declining trust in the justice system are highlighted.

The absence of dynamism in the legal system, disproportionate penalties, inadequate property protection laws, and unsatisfactory accountability for human rights violations are also cited in the document.

Officials want to see the number of attorneys per 100,000 civilians grow to 7.5 from the current 5.4, according to the five-year plan, which also envisions growing revenue from penitentiaries by more than double to 400 million Birr annually by 2030.

The Ministry also seeks to grow its social media reach in a bid to improve public awareness and perception about the legal system.