A total of 119 new advocates, among them 19 foreigners have been inducted into the Rwanda Bar Association.

The Thursday ceremony was presided over by the Supreme Court where the advocates swore to respect the Constitution and comply with the laws and work independently for the sake of justice.

"You should embrace ICT by using the Integrated Electronic Case Management system to accelerate services for your clients,” advised Judge Louis-Marie Mugenzi, a member of the Supreme Court.

"Every lawyer must respect the content of the oath and comply with laws, be honest, independent, and impartial and avoid corruption in your profession.”

The Integrated Electronic Case Management system was introduced to offer rapid services from anywhere in the country.

It ensures automatic archiving of cases, tracking as well as accuracy and transparency.

Julien-Gustave Kavaruganda, president of Rwanda Bar Association, said with the new advocates, the association now has 1269 members.

"We will also provide them with professional training after this. One of the primary ethos is avoiding corruption in the judiciary,” he told the new members.

The capacity building training is one of the objectives underlined in the 2016-2020 strategic plan of the Bar Association which aims at strengthening institutional capacity. The 5-year plan requires close to Rwf4bn to implement.

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