The president of Burundi has lambasted the judiciary for being so corrupt, saying that thousands of cases remain unresolved.
President Evariste Ndayishimiye told a gathering of senior officials from the justice ministry that he had come before them to shed tears on behalf of the people.
“Don’t you feel pity for me when I am crying before you?”
He said he had received scores of complaints from across Burundi about the broken system, with some people taking the law into their own hands.
Cases were often pending for years, the president said.
Corruption in the judiciary was also deterring foreign investors, he added.
Critics say the executive should take some responsibility for addressing the problems of inefficiency and graft within the judiciary.
Human rights organisations have in the past blamed the country’s poor human rights record on the corruption in the judiciary.
