Govt pledges continued legal aid support
MOROGORO: THE government has expressed its commitment to continue providing legal assistance to citizens through the Samia Legal Aid Programme to address legal challenges, particularly disputes that require professional legal support.
Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Dr Juma Homera expressed the commitment during a courtesy visit to the Morogoro Regional Commissioner, Mr Adam Malima, as part of his two-day official visit to the region recently.
Dr Homera also took part in the launch of a legal aid clinic for Morogoro residents at the former bus stand in Morogoro Municipality.
He said the Samia Legal Aid Programme had already been implemented in Morogoro Region last year, but there was still a high demand for legal services among citizens.
“At the moment, the Ministry of Constitutional and Legal Affairs is preparing to roll out the Samia Legal Aid services to every district across the country,” Dr Homera said.
He explained that it is the responsibility of the ministry to reach out to citizens directly and bring legal aid services closer to them so that they can fully benefit from their government under President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan.
On the issue of birth certificate registration, Dr Homera noted that experience has shown there are significant challenges in accessing birth certificates adding that to address this, the ministry has improved the system to ensure that birth certificates are issued within 48 hours after the completion of registration.
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He added that in implementing legal aid programme in Morogoro, the ministry collaborated with the National Identification Authority (NIDA) to facilitate the acquisition of national IDs, saying the collaboration is based on the close working relationship between NIDA and the Registration, Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA).
Dr Homera also said the government has put in place plans to ensure that every district in the country has a government prosecutor, with the aim of preventing conflicts of interest during investigations and court proceedings.
Moreover, the minister pledged to address administrative issues in the registration of births and deaths by establishing a system that will require District Administrative Secretaries (DASs) to regularly submit reports on registration activities to the Regional Commissioner’s Office.
He explained that previously, under the law, the registration of births, deaths and civil marriages was handled by District Administrative Secretaries, but there was no formal mechanism for reporting this information to the Regional Administrative Secretary and subsequently to the Regional Commissioner.
On his Part, Morogoro Regional Commissioner Mr Adam Malima supported the proposal, advising that reports on the registration of births and deaths should also be submitted to regional offices to improve oversight and service delivery.
RITA Deputy Chief Executive Officer Irene Lesulie said that birth certificates are now issued at district level across the country adding that, by law, the District Administrative Secretary serves as the registrar of births and deaths in each district.
