Chief Justice Faustin Nteziryayo while launching the platform
The Ministry of Justice through the Rwanda Law reform commission has launched a website portal that will allow users to access legal information about laws in force, law reports and judgements.
This new online platform www.amategeko.gov.rw is intended to benefit all categories of people including ordinary citizens, those from the judiciary and researchers to browse information of their choice pertaining laws, cases and judgements on cases of their choice.
Once the portal is in full operation, users will find information in Kinyarwanda, English and French languages.
While presiding over the official launch of the portal, Rwanda’s chief Justice Dr. Faustin NTEZILYAYO said that access to justice is largely affected by literacy gap, a reason why access to legal information should be made easier to all citizens.
“As a country guided by law, Rwanda finds it evident to promote justice for good neighborliness, security and therefore awareness about law reforms requires easy access. There is not doubt that the portal will be a refence for both judiciary and in other people’s daily life.
The work of developing this web portal is being performed by a team from Rwanda law reform Commission, the Ministry of ICT, Innovation, Judiciary and consultants from Lexbase online service company.
Jean Pierre Habarurema who works with the Judiciary at the High court believes that having access to consolidated information on one platform will help them.
He said it has been tiresome and time-consuming to look for hardcopies. He however suggests making a more diverse team to keep this source of information rich with updated information.
As the government commits itself to an extensive programme to promote the use of ICT by local citizens, many of them look forward to discovering how this relates to their daily lives.
Dativa Uwilingiyimana, a resident of Bugesera district told KT Press that she has been involved in several court cases but always leaves all what concerns the proceedings to a hired legal practitioner, partly because she does not easily access information that entails the process.
“I am eagerly looking forward to exploring the platform because I believe that justice is all about knowing your rights and information about the law. We can’t afford living under ignorance of the law. This is an opportunity to discover what law concerns a specific case and how it has helped in the past”, said Uwilingiyimana.
According to the Chairperson of Rwanda Law Reform Commission Domitilla Mukantaganzwa, once various laws have been revised, verified and approved by relevant authorities, the commission is much ready to upload them and also looks forward to considering feedbacks from portal users.
