The long time it takes for a case to be tried, and the fact that some members of staff in the judiciary are leaving for better paying jobs in other entities, are among major issues affecting citizen’ access to justice, a new study has shown.
The study titled "Justice Needs and Satisfaction of Citizens in Rwanda” was validated by a workshop organised by the Judiciary, on Friday, December 27. It was carried out by Transparency International Rwanda, which is the country branch of a global non-governmental organisation that seeks to end injustice and corruption.
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It found that one of the most common problems in Rwandan courts is a high volume of backlog of cases, indicating that because of a shortage of human resources (judges and court staff), and delays in judicial proceedings, courts are not capable of keeping up with the incoming cases which are on the rise.
The study interviewed a sample of 600 respondents who were randomly selected from a list of people who sought justice in courts in the country during the last three years.
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A case filed to a court must be decided within six months, according the existing laws. Delayed cases mean pending cases for more than 6 months, and they are seen as backlog.
Citing data from the Judiciary’s 2022-2023 annual report, the study showed that the total case backlog in Rwanda increased by 72 per cent over four years, from 52,952 cases in 2019/2020 to 91,050 cases in 2022/2023.
The study indicated the backlog of cases places immense pressure on judges, who are tasked with handling 49 cases on average per month.
The heavy workload can compromise the quality and thoroughness of judicial decisions, as judges may not have sufficient time to carefully consider each case, study found. Moreover, delays in resolving cases can undermine public trust in the judicial system and deny litigants timely justice.
Employees leaving the judiciary
The study revealed that the current state of salaries and other allowances for judicial staff does not help the judiciary to find competent staff suitable for the role, as even the judicial staff leave it to find better jobs.
Statistics show that in the past 18 years, about 220 court registrars and judges resigned and others have stopped working for the judiciary. Together, they make up 35 per cent of court registrars and judges the Judiciary has on its roster, according to the study.
Deputy Chief Justice, Alphonse Hitiyaremye, said that even though the judiciary made tangible achievements, challenges remained which affected the delivery of justice, especially the increasing case backlog and staff turnover.
He underscored the need to focus on promoting Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods – that consist of dispute settlement mechanisms other than full-scale court processes – to alleviate the burden on the formal court system, while providing parties involved in disputes with a more cost-effective and timely resolution process.
Alphonse Ngagi, a lawyer at the Court of Appeal, asked whether the situation where a judge has to try over 40 cases per month cannot be one of the factors that lead to the exit of staff from the judiciary, instead of the concern about remuneration.
Jean Claude Rwibasira, the lead researcher in the study, said that it is one of the factors, pointing out that "having a huge task that is disproportionate with salary makes judges and judicial staff decide to look elsewhere where they think they will do what is commensurate with their salary.”
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Recommendations
As part of the solution to the high number of cases filed to courts, the study recommended, among other things, the mandatory use of the small claim procedure for all commercial cases not exceeding a value of Rwf5 million.
Currently, regarding the litigants subject to small claim case procedure, the law of 2018 relating to the civil, commercial, labour and administrative procedure provides that it applies only to a party who opts for it, adding that cases adjudicated under such a method are not subject to appeal.
Another recommendation the study made is to amend the law of 2018 relating to the civil, commercial, labour and administrative procedure to establish a mandatory preliminary attempt of mediation or conciliation, as well as encourage investigators and prosecutors to effectively use available alternatives to pretrial detention and prosecution such as bail, fine without trial mediation, compensation and negotiation.
On the issue of a high volume of case backlog, the study recommended increasing human resources, judges and other court staff, greater use of plea bargaining to reduce the volume of criminal cases entering the courts.
Concerning the turnover and retention of court staff, the study recommended a revision of salaries and other allowances for judicial staff.
For the quality of judgment and timely delivery of justice, it recommended increasing the number of judges and registrars to reduce the average of cases a judge has to handle per month, encouraging judges to adhere to precedent in making their decisions.