Rwanda commercial courts are set to start using digital recording next year, said Omari Issa the Chief Executive Officer of the Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF).

Issa who was addressing journalists yesterday at Kigali Serena hotel also said that the project will break the traditional way of manually recording court proceedings and also assist people to access court documents online.

The ICF is a private-public partnership focused on improving the continent’s investment climate by removing obstacles to domestic and foreign investment and promoting Africa as an attractive investment destination.

In Rwanda, through the Rwanda Investment Climate Project (RICP), ICF is working on improving capacity in the newly established commercial courts.

It is also assisting in building capacity in the Rwanda Commercial Registration Services Agency and improving land titling and registration system in the country.

Omar said that the digital recording in commercial courts will also help in increasing the efficiency and effectiveness while resolving court disputes.

"The equipment to be used will be shipped in Rwanda before the end of this year and installation implemented early next year,” Omar revealed.

Commercial courts in Rwanda were introduced in April this year but since then they have a backlog of 3,000 cases.

"We expect to clear the backlog before the year ends,” said David Stanton, the Project Director ICF.

Omar said that they are also trying to convince the government of Rwanda to allow them venture into the energy sector especially in the methane gas, hydro and solar power projects.

The project for digital recording in commercial courts could pave way for the digital system to be expanded to other courts where records are manually entered.

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