After joining the Commonwealth Association of Legislative Counsel (CALC), last month, Rwanda is set to benefit from the expertise offered by the group’s members.

CALC is a professional entity with 1,100 members from the 54 Commonwealth member states, which Rwanda is the newest entrant.

Speaking to The New Times yesterday, the Rector of Rwanda Institute for Legal Practice and Development, (ILDP) Vastina Nsanze, said that some members of CALC expressed interest in offering the expertise to Rwanda.
"Rwanda, like other countries, has a problem of experienced legislative drafters,” said Nsanze adding that the association offers, among other things, technical assistance to member countries.

She revealed that ILDP will soon introduce a post graduate programme in legislative drafting, adding that some members of the association have shown interest in coming to share their expertise.

"As a training institute for the Justice sector, the expertise from CALC is essential. The pool of professionals has a lot to offer, especially in the area of interpreting laws in various languages,” she said.

"The quality of our laws will improve with the introduction of this programme,” said Nsanze, who recently participated in the Commonwealth Law Conference held in Hyderabad, India.She said that Rwanda will benefit from the wide spectrum of experienced professionals in legislative drafting.

In a press statement, the new CALC Vice president, Elizabeth Bakibinga-Gaswaga, said that there are various ways the country can benefit.

"Legal professionals from Rwanda stand to benefit participating in the activities of CALC, which is a forum, in which issues such as the recruitment, retention, career planning and funding for capacity building for legislative counsel as well as their multi-faceted role in governance and rule of law, are discussed.”

she said, adding that the country will also benefit from the experience of other multi-lingual jurisdictions, including Canada, Hong Kong and SAR.

Rwanda will join the other 17 African members of the Commonwealth and participate in the activities of the CALC Africa regional conference planned for 2012 and the CALC 2013 Conference in Cape Town, South Africa.

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