Chief Justice Aloysea Cyanzayire has said that Rwandan Judiciary has reformed largely ten years down the road.
Cyanzayire was briefing President Paul Kagame at his office Village Urugwiro on the progress of Judiciary in Rwanda.
This follows yesterday’s nomination of her successor Sam Rugege who has been her deputy since 2004.
According to the press statement from the president’s office, Cyanzayire whose 8 year non-renewable term of office ends this month made a courtesy call to thank President Kagame for relentless support towards the growth of judiciary.
With support of the president Kagame, Rwandan Judiciary is seen as the most reforming institution in the region using ICT to deliver justice, according to Cyanzayire.
Cyanzaire said that other areas where the Judiciary registered great success include capacity-building, where a big number of judicial staff have been able to acquire skills and experience.
Over the last 10 years, the Rwandan judicial system has undergone various reforms putting it on the international standards.
Members of the judiciary have received intensive training, both academic and on-job, and now they have the capacity to deliver justice, professionally.
The reforms have also seen a backlog of cases concluded and the population now gaining confidence in the justice system.
In August, the nominated Chief Justice Rugege made the remarks during a town hall meeting, broadcasted live on public television and radio that since, 2004, about 247,000 cases filed overwhelming judges, but with the reforms, more than 200,000 have been concluded.
He however added that some of the cases filed in the courts can be solved through unconventional means to bring down the rapidly increasing number of cases which is the major bottlenecks in the effecting justice.
“Cases are now unnecessarily multiplying in courts. The sad thing is that people skip the lower and the higher instance courts to file their grievances in the high court which increases the burden on the system.” He said.
He underscored that cases such as family issues would better be addressed by local leaders prior to going to the courts.
“Before 2004, only 74 judges had bachelor’s degree in law out of 702. This number has since been raised to 281. We train our judges before they begin to practice while others are sponsored for study tours,” Rugenge added.
Cases can also be filed online while video conferencing has been introduced to enable court proceeding to go on without having the concerned parties physically in the court rooms.
Cyanzayire who made her call to president Kagame to day, She also said that the rehabilitation and construction of court premises all over the country have had a big impact on the strengthening of the judiciary.
The Chief Justice told President Kagame that the Judiciary still faces a few challenges though, including the big number of outstanding cases and lack of highly experienced staff. Nonetheless, she pointed out that strategies were being devised to address them.
President Kagame thanked Cyanzayire for her services to her country and also pledged his and government’s continued support in building a strong judiciary that will serve Rwandans better.
ENDS
Leave a Reply