Two judges who were hired from Mauritius to run the newly instituted Commercial Courts, yesterday took oath of office before the Superior Council of the Judiciary at the Supreme Court.

Justice Marie-Joseph Gerald, who is the head the Commercial High Court, and Angelee Ramdin, the president of Nyarugenge Commercial Court, were sworn in during a function that was presided over by Chief Justice Aloysia Cyanzayire.

"This oath you have just taken should be taken seriously and it is respected by all the judges in the country. Rwandans expect a lot from your experience," Cyanzayire told the judges after the swearing in.

She urged them to maintain the objectives that led to the creation of the courts: the promotion of investments in the country.

During an exclusive interview after the ceremony, Cyanzayire said that the major reason they sourced the judges from the island nation was because of the nature of the judiciary for both countries.

"In Mauritius they have a similar judicial system as ours which is a blend of the common law and the civil law system," said the Chief Justice.

She added that the judges will work on a contractual basis and have signed a contract of one year.

"But the contracts are subject for renewal; we expect to have them for a period of three years after which our judges would have gained skills," said Cyanzayire.

The law establishing the functioning and jurisdiction of the Commercial Courts which was promulgated in March allows for foreign judges to sit on the panel.

She said that they are still looking for more foreign judges from other countries.

"We want between six and eight judges…we expected to get them all from Mauritius but this was not possible, we are looking from other countries and negotiations are going on," she said.

She said that the major reason the courts were adopted was because of the backlog of commercial litigations that were in the courts countrywide.

"Initially, there were specialized chambers in our courts that were handling commercial disputes but they were not sufficient. T he number of cases kept on increasing and a solution had to be sought to boost investment promotion in the country," she said.

The President of the Commercial High Court will possess the same jurisdiction as the High Court President, according to the law.

Apart from the High Court, there are three Commercial Courts that will be geographically spread all over the country. They will be in Nyarugenge (Kigali City), Huye (Southern Province) and Musanze in the Northern Province.

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