An extraordinary cabinet meeting, held yesterday at Village Urugwiro, approved the nomination of three judges to the Supreme Court bench, increasing the number of the judges to 19. Currently, there are 14 judges plus the Chief Justice, Prof Sam Rugege and his deputy, Zainab Sylvie Kayitesi. The cabinet meeting, which was chaired by President Paul Kagame, nominated Alphonse Munyamfura Ngagi, Aimé Muyoboke Karimunda and Agnès Murorunkwere Nyirandabaruta. The nomination was done in consultation with the High Council of the Judiciary, according to the statement. Besides Nyirandabaruta, who was hitherto the vice president of the High Court, the two nominees are from the academia. Ngagi has been a senior lecturer in the law faulty in the college of arts and social sciences at the University of Rwanda, while Karimunda has also been a visiting lecturer there, with specialty in criminal procedure. Karimunda, who has published a book ‘The Death Penalty in Africa,’ also teaches at the Institute of Legal Practice and Development. The other nominee is Xavier Ndahayo, who was named as the vice president of the High Court. All the nominated judges will have to be approved by the senate. Meanwhile the cabinet meeting instituted three more public holidays on the national calendar, and these are: January 2 (the day after New Years), National Harvest Day (Umuganura)—which is celebrated on August 1—and Eid al-Adha.
