Uganda’s Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki has signed a cooperation pact with his Rwandan Counterpart Aloysia Cyanzayire aimed at developing the justice sectors of the two countries that will lead to harmonisation of the East African Community judicial systems.
The two Chief Justices appended their signatures onto the cooperation agreement at the Supreme Court premises in Kimihurura.
Under this cooperation judicial experts from both countries shall share experiences aimed at development of their justice sectors.
Justice Odoki’s visit follows President Yoweri Museveni’s visit to Rwanda two months ago that was aimed at strengthening bilateral relations.
This also follows a meeting between Chief Justices of all five EAC member states hosted by Rwanda in March last year, where they agreed to have judicial collaboration.
According to the pact, the two parties shall carry out training programmes for judges, registrars and court staff from both countries and share experiences concerning commercial court systems, inspection of courts and backlog management.
The agreement also concerns the exchange of information and expertise on ICT development in order to improve the performance and quality of administration of justice.
After the signing of the pact, Rwandan Chief Justice Cyanzayire welcomed the initiative saying that the country’s judicial sector like other government organs cannot prosper in isolation.
“To administer natural justice to our citizens, we must promote the judicial system through the regional frameworks and continue to develop. We need to share experiences and harmonise our operations for the benefit of our people,” she said.
She revealed that the technical team will immediately draw a plan of action for the implementation of the pact.
This will also lead to formation of strategies meant to enhance autonomy of both judicial systems.
The two countries will also share information on matters concerning the respect of rule of law, court procedures, as well as the professional ethics of judges and other court personnel.
Uganda’s Justice Benjamin Odoki said that apart from strengthening the judiciaries for both countries, the agreement also cements the relationship between the two countries.
Justice Odoki also pointed that the pact would play a significant role in developing and making the judicial sectors of the two countries independent and modernised through ICT as well as producing competent judges.
He also reiterated his commitment to speed up the technical part of the agreement for its implementation.
The bilateral pact attracted dignitaries from the two countries including Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama, Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga and Uganda’s High Commissioner Richard Kabonero.
Leave a Reply