Top Kenyan judicial officials including Chief Justice Martha Koome are in Rwanda on an official visit that will include, among other things, the signing of a cooperation agreement with their Rwandan counterparts. The visit, according to the Rwandan judiciary, will also feature bench-marking sessions. ALSO READ: EA judicial officials discuss tech, prison congestion and solutions to court backlog The MoU that the two countries’ judiciaries are set to sign features among other aspects, the sharing of knowledge and best practices for expediting the hearing and determination of matters, as well as improving the quality of judicial services. It will also include having the two countries avail their judges and other personnel for peer-to-peer capacity-building exercises and exchanges, study tours, and visits for knowledge sharing, in addition to having institutional consultations. In an interview with The New Times, Harrison Mutabazi, the president of Rwanda Judicial Officers Association said that sharing best practices from respective East African countries is “very pivotal’ in helping local jurisdictions improve access to justice to the people. “We are thinking about benchmarking; that is one of the things we are going to be working on. For example, countries have started using electronic case management systems. In Rwanda we are using them, in Tanzania, they are using them, and in Kenya too. So, Uganda can learn from us,” he noted. ALSO READ: Major reforms that shaped the justice sector in 2023 Both Rwanda and Kenya are members of the East African Chief Justices Forum (EACJF), charged with facilitating collaborative efforts between partner state courts aimed at enhancing the ability of judicial systems to deliver justice by developing best practices, standards, and mechanisms to promote East African Community (EAC) jurisprudence, uphold the rule of law, and uphold constitutionalism in the EAC region. The judiciary of Rwanda’s six years strategic plan (2018-2024) roots for fostering active and effective collaboration with justice partners, while the Supreme Court of Kenya’s Strategic Plan (2020-2024) provides for the development of strategic partnerships and collaborations in areas of scholarly discourses, dissemination, and information sharing, participation in conferences and workshops on topical issues, publications, and in collaborative research. As part of the agreement, Rwanda and Kenya will cooperate in areas of common interests, particularly in academic, jurisprudence, and intellectual exchanges as well as ICT. In recent years, Rwanda’s justice system has continued to undergo significant transformation, ushering in pivotal changes that are poised to shape legal proceedings and the justice system. The changes are mainly part of the new policies for criminal justice and alternative dispute resolution that were approved by the cabinet in 2022. ALSO READ: 1500 cases settled through plea bargain in 8 months The criminal justice policy, among other things, aims at increasing the use of non-custodial mechanisms of handling detainees and convicts, making room for the use of tools like GPS bracelets instead of custodial detention. The policy has already seen the introduction of community service and fines as substitutes for detention in some cases. In addition to that, the policy also seeks to make Rwanda’s prison system more corrective and rehabilitative than punitive by ensuring that prison officers have sufficient knowledge to make a good impact on the inmates so that by the time they come out of the correctional facilities, they have skills, knowledge and a better attitude. On the other hand, the alternative dispute resolution policy seeks to prioritise non-litigation mechanisms of resolving conflicts. As part of it, the justice ministry is continuing to encourage the use of mediators (Abahuza), conciliators (Abunzi), or arbitrators instead of being direct use of litigation.
