Burkina: Government extends issuance of digital criminal records to all jurisdictions

The Ministry of Justice launched on Friday the extension of the issuance of the 'e-criminal record' or computerized record to all jurisdictions in the country. This initiative aims to reduce the processing time of files, the related costs and to fight against corruption."The criminal record was very complex to obtain because its establishment required costly travel for our populations. This is why we have focused on the e-criminal record," declared the Minister in charge of Justice, Rodrigue Edasso Bayala.According to him, the launch of the computerized record on September 15, 2023 by the government initially concerned the localities located in the territorial jurisdictions of the High Courts (TGI) of Ouaga and Ouaga I.The Minister of Justice was in Ouagadougou on Friday in front of the press to announce the extension of the digital locker to the entire national territory.Rodrigue Bayala also stressed that the second phase of the digitalization of the criminal record concerned the jurisdictions loca ted in areas with high security challenges, in particular the TGI of Bobo-Dioulasso and the Court of Appeal of Ouagadougou.According to him, the 3rd phase covered the jurisdictions of the regional capitals of Burkina Faso.He added that this last phase now concerns all the jurisdictions of the country."Today, there are 16 jurisdictions located in the regional capitals and in the rest of the country, covering approximately 31 provinces out of the 45 in our country," said Minister Bayala.He assured that any Burkinabe, whether born on national territory or abroad, can now obtain their criminal record online.The minister also noted that since the official launch of the e-locker, from September to December 2023, his department has recorded 11,000 locker requests, and 16,000 requests from January to September 5, 2024.Source: Burkina Information Agency