An evaluation of the first term performance in lower and high courts of Gasabo, Nyarugenge and Gicumbi districts, has shown that the number of trials coming to courts is on a decline compared to previous years.

The three districts make up one of the six judicial zones commonly referred to as Ifasi. 

Representatives of the courts from the mentioned districts on Friday met in Kigali to evaluate their respective performance contracts, in a move to plan for possible improvements during the following term.

High Court President, Johnston Busingye attributed this decline to both the performance of court judges and mobilisation of ordinary citizens to resolve disputes among themselves at a local level.

"Some of our judges are doing good work by letting people know they can solve their misunderstandings locally much better than petitioning courts,” Busingye said in an interview.

He however added that the observation is very relative, given it concerns only courts in three districts, not the whole country.

"But if you add other districts’ situations, the figure may look gloomy,” he explained, adding that the general overview might show the numbers increasing, which would mean that courts have a national problem.

To counter this, performance targets have been set that urge every judge to deliver a minimum of fifteen formal judgements per term according to how many the cases the courts receives, not including rulings on quick trials and detentions, and many of the judges have been able to achieve this so far, according to Busingye.

Statistics from Gicumbi district courts have shown that a total of 306 cases were received between January and April this year in addition to 1013 cases that were awaiting trial, and at the end of the first term, 660 of them have been disposed off, which goes to over 50 per cent.

Busingye, who appreciated the efforts by judges in different courts over the registered performance, suggested that efforts should be put in increasing the quality of service delivery rather than the number of judges, as the latter would have to be matched with available resources to empower them all.

Judges were also advised to embark on digital storage of their documents in order to make strong archives that will permit future use, and to maintain accountability and transparency in service delivery.

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