Ghana, Rwanda Seek to Strengthen Knowledge Sharing in Justice

By Frederic Byumvuhore

A delegation of judges from Ghana have applauded Rwanda's ministry of justice for making progress in resolving and filing court cases electronically.

The delegation of five judges has been in Rwanda since Sunday to strengthen knowledge sharing and to foster exchange of best practices and collaboration between judicial institutions in both countries.

During a conversation, on Tuesday at the ministry of justice, the visitors and Rwanda justice officials shared experiences on how mediation is playing a crucial role in effective performance of commercial justice.

Jennifer Dodoo, the president of commercial court of Ghana, said that the lesson they had learnt is how Rwanda has advanced in using technology in dealing with court cases especially for commercial ones.

"We came to study what makes Rwanda successful in doing business. We have learnt a lot. ICT has changed things obviously for effective justice. We are going back to talk to our executives to help us to use ICT in commercial courts," Dodoo said.

Chief Justice, Sam Rugege said that both parties learned from each other, saying that the ministry has appreciated the role of mediators in solving commercial cases.

Rugege explained that court cases are rapidly handled after the ministry embraced technology in the entire process, including filing cases electronically, and easing online payment in order to save business people's time and money.

Rugege, on the other hand, said that their counterparts are ahead of them in terms of resolving disputes amicably through mediation without any litigation.

"Our visitors explained to us how mediators play a crucial role in resolving conflicts instead of going to courts. This is a good move and lesson for us. We are going to do the same in our court system for quick resolutions for commercial court cases," he added.

Earlier, the visitors had visited Kigali International Arbitration Centre where they had an in-depth roundtable with a particular focus on alternative dispute resolution mechanisms.

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