Key stakeholders from the national, regional and continental judiciaries, Bar Associations, legal and judicial institutions in the East African region gathered in Arusha between November 22 and November 24, 2011 to deliberate on the Establishment of an Online Legal Resource Centre for East Africa. The workshop was convened by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung under the auspices of the Rule of Law Program in collaboration with the East Africa Law Society (EALS) and the Faculty of Computer Engineering of the University of Hamburg

The idea of establishing a regional Online Resource Centre is born out of the realization that the compilation, documentation and dissemination of national and EAC statutes and judicial decisions is largely uncoordinated and/or rather expensive to access once published.

Thus the main objective of this project is to bridge this gap with a view to;

a.Contributing towards the development of jurisprudence across the East African Community that is based on updated information.

b.Retooling the legal profession and the Judiciary to effectively dispense their duties within a regional integration perspective.

The workshop was officially opened by Justice Harold Nsekela, President East African Court of Justice who delivered a keynote address that underscored the importance of embracing the technological advancement in the judicial and legal spheres in the East African region.

Ms Anne Abeja-Muhwezi, Secretary-general of the East Africa Law Society (EALS), Prof. Christian Roschmann, Director of the Rule of Law Program for Sub Saharan Africa of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and Mr. Stefan Reith, KAS Country Representative Tanzania also addressed the workshop.

Mr. Tito Byenkya, CEO, EALS provided a background Information on the Project in general as well as the role of each stakeholder in the implementation of the project.

T

he technical aspects of the project were presented by Prof. Dietmar Moeller and Dr. Berhanu Beyene both from the University of Hamburg who presented on the Online Legal Resource Center: The Technical Aspects of Lifelong Learning and the Soft skills for the use of an Online Legal Resource Center respectively.

To foster successful implementation of the project, KAS and EALS deemed it important to involve the key stakeholders from the onset. Therefore the workshop was convened with the aim to:

1.Introducing the idea and all related concepts of the project to the key stakeholders in the region.

2.Appreciating the views and comments of the stakeholders on the on the Project and harness their commitment to the initiative.

3.Identifying the specific roles that each of the institutions will undertake to ensure the success of the Project.

The participants appreciated the importance of the project and recommended as follows;-

KAS and EALS to continuously engage key stakeholders (such as heads of judiciaries, the EAC secretariat, parliaments, legal and judicial institutions, lawyers’ associations, law reform commissions, the civil society, media etc) in the region in order to their garner views, comments and support. Further, the two institutions should publicize the initiative among the key stakeholders and the public at large. This is to enhance the ownership of the project.

The Resource Centre should provide an e-learning platform for legal and judicial officers in the region in addition to collecting and compiling landmark judicial and legal developments in the region.

The facility to be as interactive as possible so as to enhance continuous dialogue among the stakeholders.

The question of language and the different legal systems among the member states need to be addressed and harmonized.