The Drafter’s role in the drafting process

This dissertation focuses on the legislative drafting process and the drafter’s role in the production of quality legislation - looking in particular at questions surrounding the way drafters handle the drafting process, the issue of permission to draft, drafting instructions, drafting manual, the drafter’s skills, the quality of legislation, and applying Thornton’s five stages of drafting process. The author argues that Drafters should adopt Thornton’s five stages of the drafting process (understanding the proposal, analysing the proposal, designing the law, composing and developing the draft and the scrutiny of the draft) in order to improve the quality of legislation. The author also identifies any gaps in the process and the problems drafters encounter, which directly or indirectly affect the quality of the legislation they produce. The discussion is supported with arguments put forward by different legal experts and legal professionals. Examples are drawn from the Sierre Leone and Rwandan jurisdictions based on interviews with drafters from five key Rwandan legislative institutions, namely: the Ministry of Justice, the Rwandan Senate, the Rwandan Parliament, the President’s office and the Prime Minister’s office.