National Assembly: Prison conditions and judicial infrastructures at the heart of the hearing of the Minister of Justice before the Monitoring and Evaluation committee

The Minister of State, Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Seals, Guillaume Ngefa, was auditioned on Tuesday, October 20, by the Commission for Monitoring and Evaluation of the execution of laws, resolutions, and recommendations of public policies of the National Assembly. The discussions mainly focused on detention conditions in the country's penitentiary establishments and the difficulties related to the functioning of the judicial system. Following this audition, the chairman of the commission, MP Singoma Mwanza, insisted on the need to relieve overcrowding in prisons and improve detention conditions. He particularly lamented the outdatedness of the penitentiary infrastructures, the modernization of which remains insufficient since the independence of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He also drew attention to the particularly worrying situation of women, children, and infants living in prison. Furthermore, he pleaded for a reform of the penal policy, placing more emphasis on the rehabilitation and social reintegration of detainees, beyond the purely punitive dimension of the sentence. The discussions also highlighted the insufficiency of judicial infrastructure, particularly in the provinces, territories, and areas remote from major urban centers. The construction and development of courts that meet the needs of the field thus appear as priorities to improve the working conditions of magistrates and bring justice closer to the people. As an institution invested with budgetary power, the National Assembly intends to ensure careful monitoring of investment programming in the judicial sector. The commission plans to examine the concerns raised during this audition and formulate recommendations that will be submitted to the plenary. The objective is to contribute to the modernization of the penitentiary system and the strengthening of access to justice in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Singoma Mwanza indicated. A new dynamic for the commission Presided over by the national MP Singoma Mwanza, the Monitoring and Evaluation Commission was endowed last Saturday with a workspace intended to accommodate its activities, alongside nine other parliamentary commissions. When this commission was set up, the President of the National Assembly, Aimé Boji, expressed his expectations for this structure, affirming that he placed much hope in its work. The audition of the Minister of Justice thus marks the launch of the audition work in the new premises allocated to the parliamentary commissions, setting the tone for the activities of this structure responsible, in particular, for monitoring the application of laws, recommendations, and public policies.