Grassroots justice coordinators to offer free services to the poor

Coordinators of Access to Justice Bureaus in districts across the country will next week take oaths to start representing poor citizens in courts, an official in the Ministry of Justice said yesterday. Isabelle Kalihangabo, the Solicitor-General and permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice, made the disclosure while meeting members of the Senatorial Standing Committee on Political Affairs and Good Governance. The senators were exchanging findings of their field trip, which assessed the performance of the justice sector 10 years after major reforms in the field. Access to Justice Bureaus, a community legal aid project, commonly known by its French name, Maisons d’Accès à la Justice (Maj), has been helping vulnerable members of communities with advice on how to deal with their cases in courts. But the coordinators of Maj in districts were unable to accompany poor families in courts, leaving them with the option to seek lawyers from the Rwanda Bar Association or non-government organisations that provide legal counsel to the poor. Kalihangabo said the Supreme Court has organised a swearing-in ceremony for Maj coordinators next week after which they will start representing the indigents in courts. She said the lawyers will not be enough to assist all the people in need of representation in courts since they will assist those who are most vulnerable but observed it will be an important contribution in delivering justice. “It’s a drop in the ocean but it’s an important addition toward helping the vulnerable,” she said. Once they start working as lawyers for the poor, Maj coordinators will handle cases for poor Rwandans in the first and second category of Ubudehe, the country’s social stratification scheme. According to Chantal Uwineza, the Maj coordinator in Ngororero District, there are many vulnerable people who need legal representation in courts after efforts to settle their cases outside courts through mediation failed. Isabelle Kalihangabo, the P S at the Ministry of Justice( L) together with Senatorial Standing Committee on Political Affairs and Good Governance chairperson Appolinaire Mushinzimana during the meeting yesterday.(Timothy Kisambira) She commended efforts by the Supreme Court and the Rwanda Bar Association to extend representation in courts for poor families through enabling Maj coordinators to help. “It will help a lot because we have a lot of vulnerable people who unnecessarily lose their cases in courts,” Uwineza said. Once sworn in, the coordinators will be allowed by the Rwanda Bar Association law to represent their clients in district and Intermediate courts only. Clients seeking to take their cases beyond intermediate courts when they cannot afford legal fees will be asking the Rwanda Bar Association to provide them with representation.

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Grassroots justice coordinators to offer free services to the poor