The Lower House, yesterday, approved the relevance of the bill establishing the Court of Appeal as key reforms in the judicial sector gather momentum.

The draft law will now undergo further scrutiny in the parliamentary standing committee in charge of political affairs before returning to the plenary for eventually approval.

The state minister in charge of legislation and constitutional affairs, Evode Uwizeyimana, told parliament yesterday that once the proposed court has been instituted, it shall have jurisdiction to adjudicate all appealed cases from High Court, Commercial High Court, and Military High Court.

This, he said, will ensure timely justice and improve quality.

Uwizeyimana said that although the number of Supreme Court judges previously increased from 14 to 20, case backlog remained a challenge, thus partly justifying the need to create the Court of Appeal.

The proposed new court will allow the Supreme Court to concentrate on high-profile cases, providing guidance to the lower courts, and adjudicating cases related to interpretation of the constitution.

However, even as the lawmakers backed the move in principle, they expressed concerns that the procedure to set up the proposed court may not have respected the constitution because the House was yet to be provided with the draft bill that defines in detail the proposed court’s functions and competence.

"I think the procedure used is not constitutional. Yes, we have passed the basis of the bill, but we haven’t yet received the draft law that details the powers, functions and organisation of the Court of Appeal to inform our discussion and decision,” said veteran MP Juvenal Nkusi.

He added: "We are in the process to dissolve the powers of the existing courts, before we get to know what exactly to expect going forward. The government should have presented all the relevant draft legal instruments at once to allow for an informed debate on the whole reform process.”

Responding to these concerns, Uwizeyimana said the bill in question would be tabled before the House very soon.

"The good thing is that we have already shared all the relevant bills. We expect MPs to consider two other bills tomorrow,” he said.

He assured lawmakers that no institutional vacuum will arise as all the new laws related to the reforms will be published in the official gazette at the same time.

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