Effective July 2, 2021 (last week) the Ministry of Justice activated the e-auction system which will ensure that public auctioning will henceforth be conducted online to execute court judgments. The online auctioning that was launched by Justice Minister Johnston Busingye, is now accessible at www.cyamunara.gov.rw which according to him is part of efforts to leverage ICT in Rwanda’s service delivery. The new platform is part of the wider Integrated Electronic Case Management System (IECMS), which is already in use within the judicial sector. Courtesy of the new development, judgment execution will go fully digital in a bid to curb corruption and undervaluation that has inhibited the service, thanks to a Ministerial Order relating to the electronic execution of enforcement orders, which was approved by the Cabinet. Minister Busingye said that electronic auctioning system aims at reducing the human element in the auctioning process and tackling corruption (perceived or real) and undervaluation of auction properties. For instance, in August 2018, Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) paraded individuals accused of belonging to a network of fraudulent bidders who were colluding with business people to undervalue property during the execution of court rulings. The two suspects were accused of having received payments so they could pretend to be bidders at a public auction in Kigali City’s Kicukiro area where a petrol station valued at Rwf850 million was bought at Rwf330 million. Busingye said there are many benefits of online auctions. Benefits of online auction include good price, satisfying the debt, transparency, bidding friendly environment, attracting diaspora, elimination of post auction litigation, elimination of “Debtor as victim” perception/mindset,” Busingye assured. The system also creates an enabling environment for the debtor and creditor to attract buyers who can pay the highest price on the properties to be auctioned. The system will also eliminate accusations or cases filed by debtors against court bailiffs pertaining to property undervaluation. The online system also creates safety for bailiffs as they are not in contact with people on the field, where there has been cases of assault meted out on them, especially by those whose property is up for auction. He called upon the Government and its partners to multiply efforts to ensure debtors’ property auctions are conducted transparently, adding that creditors, debtors, bailiffs, media and should own the process-at the highest level. “The traditional methods of judgment execution had made people lose confidence in the court bailiffs and this had become pervasive in different media publications as well as social media platforms,” he said. Prior to its online auctioning platform launch, over 400 court bailiffs, 900 cyber café operators and other people concerned were trained on the use of the platform. While sharing with the CEOs and legal advisors of bank institutions, court bailiffs and the media about the new reforms regarding the enforcement orders of property auction, the Minister mentioned that enforcement orders are key to the whole Credit Portfolio. Without execution, there is no recovery, without recovery, there is no trust in the system and no investment,” he said. Without fair ruling executions, citizens lose trust in government, the banks also stop giving out loans and without loans, investments are affected, which later on affects the country’s developmental agenda, “he added. He said that the law which had been in force provided that auction be conducted electronically but also provided that bidding can continue at the place of location of the property. He admitted that this manual segment greatly compromised the electronic system forcing a decision to make the process fully electronic. How online auctioning will work Judgment executions look at decisions of courts, judges, Registrar General, arbitrators, mediation committees, Gacaca courts, officials’ decisions and others. According to the Head of the Access to Justice Services in the Ministry of Justice, Martine Urujeni, a resident in Rwanda or abroad, who intends to bid for property with reference price equal to or more than Rwf5 million pays refundable bid security of five per cent (5%) of the reference price of the property. Article 5 of the Ministerial Order stipulates that interested bidders enter offer prices through the electronic system where they are kept confidentially. Six hours before the auction hour, the prices are disclosed to the bidders, again through the electronic system and also submitted by email to both the bailiff and each bidder. Urujeni said that this fee will help weed out ‘mafia rings’ formed by some brokers to distort prices and value. “This fee is deposited onto the bank account specified by the Ministry of Justice and is refunded if the bidder is not awarded the property in question within three working days,” she explained. Urujeni added that should the successful bidder pay the price within the time limits specified by law, he or she deducts the bid security from the price to be paid. The online auctioning system is carried out in 24 hours. When the debtor and creditor reject the highest price provided, the bailiff announces, within the next 24 hours, that auctioning continues. Inside IECMS Online auctioning is part of IECMS which is used along the entire justice chain, right from the investigation level to prosecution, adjudication, correctional service and execution of enforcement orders. The system’s beneficiaries include the general public, Rwanda Investigation Bureau (194 stations/posts), Public Prosecution Authority (59 prosecutions offices), Judiciary of Rwanda (63 courts), Public litigation department (31: 1 CLS and 30 MAJ). Others include Rwanda Correctional Services (14 prisons), Rwanda Bar Association (over 2000 lawyers), Professional / Non Professional Bailiffs (500 / 2,600), receivers, military justice and other institutions with investigation and prosecution competences such as Ombudsman, REMA, Rwanda Cooperatives Agency, Immigration and others. The online auctioning portal enables auction participants to view and bid for assets. It is integrated with the Rwanda IECMS database for data exchange. The Judgement execution component in the system, is used to provide detailed information about the auctions scheduled to sell the assets that are confiscated from the judgment debtor. The information to be provided in this section includes among others publication of the auction, auction schedule, hierarchy of creditors among others. The online auction section displays the details of the scheduled auctions, adjourned auctions and completed auctions. It displays the assets that you can bid for and the ones that are sold at the auctions, bids for the registered users of the Online Auction portal for purchasing confiscated properties as well as all voluntary execution agreements between debtor and the creditor. The section again displays statements regarding property seized for auction. Citizen’s satisfaction with access to justice According to Busingye, the level of citizen’s satisfaction with access to justice was at 85, 99 per cent in 2020 from 71, 7 per cent in 2019 and 77 per cent in 2018, an improvement from 66, 18 per cent in 2013, according to the Rwanda Governance Scorecard. He said such performance in the justice sector should be maintained and improved by leveraging technology.
