One year after its establishment, the Court of Appeal has adjudicated up to 94 per cent of cases that were initially lodged in the Supreme Court.
This, according to Harrison Mutabazi, the Spokesperson for the Judiciary, is a true reflection of the judicial reforms that started back in 2004 with an aim of providing quality and timely justice to all litigants.
A law establishing the Court of Appeal was published in the Official Gazette of June 2018. The court was set up for the primary purpose of decongesting the Supreme Court which had been overwhelmed.
Prior to the establishment of the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court used to take on appeals from the High Court, Military High Court, and the Commercial High Court.
This is on top of the other key obligations of the court, which is to interpret the constitution which left a big backlog of cases in the highest court of the land.
According to statistics, there were over 854 cases that were pending before the Supreme Court, and these included 619 criminal cases, 92 civil cases, 89 commercial cases, eight labour cases and 27 administrative cases.
Mutabazi told The New Times that 810 cases which were transferred to the Court of Appeal have been decided upon.
The cases that have since been completed include 605 criminal cases, 87 civil cases, 84 commercial cases, all the eight labour cases and a total of 24 administrative cases.
This brings the completion rate to 94.8 per cent.
The Court of Appeal has jurisdiction to hear, on first instance, appeal cases tried at first instance by the High Court, the Commercial High Court, and the Military High Court.
The appeals court also has jurisdiction to try at the second level of appeal cases tried by the High Court, the Commercial High Court and Military High Court if they fulfil certain criteria that include; have an impact on national security; have ordered penalties which are not provided by law; are decided based on a non-existing law, or refer to repealed legal provisions or are tried by a court lacking jurisdiction.
Speaking to The New Times, different stakeholders in the judicial sector welcomed the move to establish the Court of Appeal, saying that this has minimised the cases that end up at the Supreme Court, which was already clogged.
Johnson Kabera, the managing partner of Kigali Allied Advocates, said that the reforms in the judiciary have helped expedite justice delivery.
He also pointed out that, "considering the number of cases decided on in a year, there is no doubt that the problem of backlog of cases will be addressed within a short time.”
Conversely, Kabera said that in order "not to re-invent the wheel”, the Court of Appeal has to put more efforts in using precedent in order to have consistency and quality of the decisions rendered and to have a common legal position for similar legal issues.
"The Court of Appeal which hears most of the cases at the last instance has done its best in timely delivery of justice and we appreciate the results so far, not just in numbers of the cases but also in the quality of those judgments,” Kabera said.
Concerning other reforms that the judiciary has undertaken in recent years, Kabera commended the introduction of the Integrated Electronic Case Management System which has greatly brought about efficiency in the sector.
editor@newtimesrwanda.com