Rwanda and Morocco will today sign a raft of agreements for partnership in the justice sector, including collaboration on the latter’s implementation of the digital court project.

Moroccan Justice Minister Mohamed Aujjar is leading a delegation from the North African country on an official visit to Rwanda.

The two ministers are set to sign memorandums of understanding for partnership in the justice sector.

The justice ministers of both countries met in Kigali yesterday and affirmed their willingness to learn from each other.

Rwanda’s Justice Minister, Johnston Busingye, told the media yesterday that digitisation eases court procedures.

"The justice sector in Morocco is going through a huge reform and among the most important elements are building digital court programmes,” Busingye told the press.

Citing Rwanda’s experience, he said, before the reforms that started in 2004 the country solely relied on manual programmes with a lot of paperwork.

"Today, we are at a level where individuals file their cases online, follow up on their cases online as well as receive telephone messages about their case proceedings. The only thing that requires people to come to courts is hearing” Busingye said.

The two ministers discussed the structures under of their ministries and how justice is delivered in their respective countries.

Busingye talked about the institution of mediators and how it helped reduce court backlog.

Seventy per cent of disputes in Rwanda are resolved by mediators at cell and sector levels.

Busingye also said that Rwanda would explore the possibilities of adopting some programmes from the justice sector of Morocco

"When we want to adopt a programme, we go to our people and check how welcome and adaptable it is and then take necessary decision,” he said.

Minister Busingye invited his counterpart to the launch of the legal aid week, which will take place today in Huye District, Southern Province.

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