Lawyers are worried that mediation could take away their fee, and are not interested in supporting this kind of alternative dispute resolution, according to the Court Mediation Advisory Committee.

This was during a consultative meeting that senators held with government officials and representatives of legal institutions on ways of promoting Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in Rwanda.

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The Deputy Chairperson of the Court Mediation Advisory Committee, Justice Aimé Kalimunda, said that based on the nature of cases, there are those that should be resolved through mediation, without necessitating lodging legal actions in courts.

Talking about issues they observed regarding the implementation of mediation, he cited inadequate knowledge both on the side of the general residents, and the educated people including legal practitioners.

He said only 50 out of about 700 court personnel –including lawyers and registrars – have been trained in mediation.

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However, he exposed that the biggest challenge concerns the contribution of lawyers that was lacking.

"We realised that lawyers do not understand the role of mediation, but we also found that there is an issue that lawyers sometimes find mediation as a way to take away the fee they would get through court cases,” he said.

"This has become a challenge for us which I think has impeded the mediation progress because often, the fees to lawyers were designed based on the level of courts, yet mediation removes such awards,” he said.

However, he said that the Rwanda bar association and other concerned entities were considering strategies to address the issue, such as including the lawyer fee in the agreement, whether the case in question is addressed through mediation or not.

Moïse Nkundabarashi said lawyers are important players in dispute resolution including in the mediation process, warning that excluding them would pose a threat to the success of alternative justice resolution.

He indicated that mediation is another way through which lawyers could carry out their practice, but pointed out that their fees should be ensured.

"At the Rwanda Bar Association level, we are thinking about what can be done to ensure that the lawyer who has facilitated the mediation gets what is owed to him/her, but at the same time contributes to addressing the problem,” he said.

He pointed out that a lawyer facilitates mediation and a dispute can be solved in one week, rather than having to wait five years in court for a resolution, "I think we would also benefit from that as lawyers.”

Josephine Muhorakeye, a sector reinvestment analyst at Rwanda Development Board (RDB), said mediation works for RDB.

For instance, she said this year, it received 300 cases, 85 per cent of which have been so far addressed through mediation.

However, she said, "We face a challenge in mediation where the parties involved in a dispute want to bring lawyers.”

"Often, when a lawyer is present, we try to mediate, but after they leave the room, they change the client’s perspective; and the following day, they come back saying that they have changed their minds, claiming that ‘my lawyer gave me some advice’,” she said, asking that lawyers to "let mediation take its course.”

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Talking about cases that should be dealt with through mediation, Kalimunda cited family-related disputes, those related to credit that people get from banks where the loan and the interest rates are known, and insurance compensations.

Moreover, he said cases related to tax, and cases between the government and the residents including suppliers can also be dealt with through mediation.

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"If all these cases are resolved through mediation, they can ensure the availability of space whereby courts can try the remaining cases which involve legal issues and issues involving major subject-matters, and judges can get enough time to adjudicate cases,” Kalimunda said.