Although mediation committees have played a significant role in reducing the backlog of court cases, some local leaders continue to undermine their role, subsequently blocking their potential to be more productive, a report by the Senatorial Committee on Governance and Political Affairs has revealed. Mediation committees, commonly known as ‘Abunzi’, are a hybrid of conventional justice system and Rwanda’s traditional conflict resolution mechanism. Mediation committees, reintroduced in 2004, mostly motivated in part by the desire to reduce the backlog of court cases, as well as to decentralize justice and make it more affordable and accessible for citizens seeking to resolve conflict without the cost of going to court. A mediation committee is made of seven people and has a mandate of five years, renewable. Mediation committees have the mandate to solve inheritance conflicts regarding both movable and immovable property whose value does not exceed Rwf3 million. They are also mandated with mediating cases regarding breach of agreements between individuals if the dispute does not exceed Rwf3 million, family problems with the exception The report, a copy of which The New Times has seen indicates that for instance, priority is not given to mediation committee sittings with some local leaders asking them to postpone their work often. This, the report says is unfortunate since the work that the mediators has been doing over the years is commendable. For instance, between 2018-2019, mediation committees countrywide received 48,989 cases. Most of these were fixed and only 1,091 remain. For 2017-2018, a total of 50,878 cases were filed. Only 1,350 of these remain unsolved while in 2016-2017, a total of 51,016 cases were filed and only 1,878 of these remain unsolved. Presenting the report to the Senatorial Plenary Session on Wednesday, the Committee Chairperson Lambert Dushimimana said that his team had on their fact finding mission visited three districts in each province and other in the City of Kigali. These include Gatsibo, Kirehe, Rusizi, Nyabihu, Rubavu, Musanze, Burera, Gicumbi, Nyamagabe, Nyaruguru, Gisagara, Gasabo, Kicukiro and Nyarugenge. Mediation Committee Challenges Dushimimana said that on their mission, they found out that only 51 percent of the mediation committees have decent premise to operate from. He pointed out that those that don’t have premises are sometimes forced to postpone their work due to lack of venues. “The commission found that there are mediation committees that keep their equipment in the offices of Executive Secretaries which does not guarantee their safety. This means that the safety of documentation related to cases can easily disappear and as a result create even more problems,” he said. However, he reminded that most of the challenges that mediators face depend on how organised the leadership in a particular area is. “These issues mostly stem from the nature of the local administration the committees deal with, in areas where the structure is organised, the committees work very well. In areas where there are problems, the mediators of course face challenges,” he said. The Senators also found out that there was an issue of mediators who take long periods of time without working because the committee members are fewer than they should be, the issue of members of the committee who have difficulties getting permission from work to attend sessions among others. The Executive Secretary of the Legal Aid Forum (LAF); Andrews Kananga told The New Times in an interview, that just as it was done for ‘People With Integrity’ committees on the now-dissolved Gacaca Courts, mediation committees need motivation and incentives. “Yes, they are given a package but they are not motivated enough. The Ministry needs to invest in time to coach, and listen to them. The Access to Justice Bureaus (MAJ) people who are supposed to supervise them rarely make time for them. That can be demoralising,” he said. However, he said that an assessment of 50,000 people carried out by LAF in 2017 indicates that the 94 percent of the population thinks that mediators as an institution are very important but need more resources to serve better. There are 2,563 mediation committees nationwide. 2,148 of these are based on the Cell level while 416 are on Sector level. In general, there are 17, 941 mediators countrywide. Of these, 9,988 (55.67 percent) are men while 7,953 (44.33 percent) are women. Their mandate is to mediate in the he amicable solving of issues between parties. However, should that fail, they are required to make a decision based on the provisions of the law, cultural norms of the area, or simply their conscience as long as it does not contradict the written laws.
