The Commonwealth Secretariat’s new guide to law reform and legislative drafting manual are being presented in Nairobi this week at the AGM and conference of the Association of Law Reform Agencies of Eastern and Southern Africa.
The Commonwealth Secretariat’s new guide to law reform and legislative drafting manual are being presented in Nairobi this week at the AGM and conference of the Association of Law Reform Agencies of Eastern and Southern Africa (ALRAESA).
Twenty-three delegates, 22 from ALRAESA member states and South Sudan, represented for the first time, saw the value of the tools first-hand. The guide and manual were both launched at the Commonwealth Law Ministers Meeting in The Bahamas last month.
Legal adviser in the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Rule of Law Section, Segametsi Mothibatsela, is participating in the event. She was pleased to receive the news that ALRAESA had agreed to grant the Commonwealth Secretariat official observer status.
She said, “I expressed the Secretariat’s gratitude and conveyed the Secretariat’s desire to partner with ALRAESA in the area of law reform, which lies at the heart of the services delivered by the Secretariat. ALRAESA is amenable to that and will discuss further with the Secretariat regarding the way forward.”
Mrs Mothibatsela said the guide to law reform and legislative drafting manual were ‘very well received as tools which would be very useful to all ALRAESA Member countries’. In addition, she shared the work of the Commonwealth’s Office for Civil and Criminal Justice Reform (OCCJR), showing the benefits of the knowledge management portal.
ALRAESA was established in 2003 to provide a platform for its 14 members to exchange and share ideas on best practices in law reform and development of law, in accordance with the principles of human rights, good governance and rule of law.
Kenya’s attorney general, Professor Githu Muigai, delivered the keynote and opening address before the first session on ‘Emerging Trends and Prospects in Africa on Democratic Governance’.
