The Minister for Justice, Johnston Busingye, Tuesday officiated at the swearing-in of 84 independent notaries for the first time in the country’s history. There are now 911 notaries covering all the 30 districts.

In his remarks, Justice minister Johnston Busingye urged the new independent notaries on good service delivery to help the notaries public.

"This is a new journey that we should be proud of and work together more. A notary is solicited by many people and I request you to have a good schedule as those coming to you have important matters that they want addressed,” Busingye said.

He added that it is a tough job that requests integrity and they should carefully examine documents presented to them, avoiding targeting money only.

"If someone brings you documents to authenticate and you trust him without first verifying, investigations into the forged document should begin with you,” he added.

The minister promised them more trainings and support from his office to enhance their knowledge in the field.

Théophile Twizeyimana has been working as a lawyer and will now serve as an independent notary.

"We will help public notaries to reduce the queues in their offices. Now one person can serve many people in a day, whereas we were used to have a specific day in a week for this service at the sector,” Twizemana said.

Martine Urujeni, Head of Access to Justice Services Department, told The New Times that there are rules governing the notary service and ministerial orders that determine the prices for the service so that the new servants won’t increase the tariffs.

"The minister urged them to follow the rules because this job requires maximum integrity as they do not have to think of only making money, but look beyond the rules so that we won’t find forged documents certified by notaries,” Urujeni said.

She said the country has notaries at sector and district levels, at the Rwanda Development Board, and the Rwanda Governance Board as well as the Ministry of Justice.

This new category is independent and recognised by the state and should have a known address. They have to be lawyers and have worked in the sector for a specified period of time in order to be given the powers to perform the service.

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