EACJ First Instance Division to resume court sessions next week
The East African Court of Justice First Instance Division will resume its sessions next week on 6th – 28th September 2016. The Court has fifteen (15) matters coming before it and these are four (4) Scheduling conferences, four (4) Applications, three (3) hearings, two (2) Judgments, and two (2) rulings all in open court.
Among the cases that will come before the Court include; a case that was filed by Mr. Steven Deniss from The United Republic of Tanzania against the Attorneys General of the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania and the Secretary General of the East African Community. The case which was filed on 10th July 2015 in the First Instance Division complains that the provisions of Article 30 (2) of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community, about the two (2) months limitation period for filing a matter before the regional court as specified under that Article 30(2) of the Treaty, that it is not only very restrictive but also unjust and discriminatory.
The Applicant further complains that the Provision does not provide ample time for obtaining legal assistance, conducting legal research, documentation of the evidence and securing witnesses expected of a reference before the East African Court of Justice hence has denied him just like other citizens of the Partner States access to justice which is contrary to the fundamental and operational principles of the Treaty as set out in Articles 6(d) and 7(1) (a). He also alleges that the process by which Article 30 (2) of the Treaty was introduced is illegal and that the 6th Respondent had failed in its duty to advice the Partner States to rectify it and equally the 1st to 5th Respondents have failed to cure the illegality in their responsibility to ensure that the objectives of the Treaty are achieved. The hearing is on 19th September 2016.
Another case that is coming up for judgement was filed by the East African Civil Society Organizations’ Forum (EASCOF) against the Attorney General of the Republic of Burundi, Commission Electorale Nationale Independete (CENI) and the Secretary General of the East African Community. The Applicant alleges that the Decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Burundi violated the letter and spirit of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi, 2000 (the Arusha Accord) which was promulgated into domestic law by the Parliament of the Republic of Burundi, in particular Article 7(3) of Protocol 11 to the Arusha Accord which provides that the President of the Republic of Burundi shall be elected for a term of 5 years, renewable only once and that no one may serve more than two (2) presidential terms and the Constitution of Burundi which states under Article 96 that the President of the Republic is elected by universal; suffrage for a mandate of five years renewable one time.
The Applicant further alleges that by reason of the aforementioned breach of the Arusha Accord and the Burundi Constitution, the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Burundi equally violated Articles 5(3)(f), 6(d), 7(2), 8(1)(a) (c) and 8(5) of the Treaty establishing the EAC. He also claims that the decision of the CNDD-FDD political party to nominate or put forward President Pierre Nkurunzinza as a candidate for the election to the Office of the President of the Republic of Burundi in 2015 violated the Arusha Accord aforementioned and is unlawful.
The Applicant also alleges that the Commission Electorale Nationale Independete (CENI) had failed to ensure compliance with the provisions of the EAC Treaty. The matter came up for hearing before the First Instance Division on 13th June, 2016 and court fixed the judgement on 29th September, 2016.
Also on 14th September the Court will hear three Applications in cases filed by three members of Staff of the East African Community Early Warning Unit, accusing the Secretary General for the allegedly giving them notice of termination of their employment contracts. They are asking the court to grant an injunction restraining the Secretary General from effecting his decision the hearing and determination of the main cases.
The subject matter, the Applicants say that, on 17th June 2016, the Secretary General acted beyond his mandate in deciding to terminate the Claimants’ contracts by serving them notices of termination of service, in breach of the Council of EAC Ministers decisions at its 16th , 18th , 19th meeting and 31st Extra-Ordinary meeting, Regulation 96 of Staff Rules and Regulations 2006, the provisions of the Claimant employment contract, the official communications from the European Union (EU) and African Union (AU), the Agreements between EU and AU and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) including EAC. The Applicants still said that on 7th July 2016, received from EAC Registry a notice of three (3) months to terminate their employment contract effective from 20th June 2016 signed by the EAC Secretary General. That by that letter, the Claimants were informed that EAC has no funds to support the APSA African Union Peace and Architecture Support project staff and that for that reason, the Secretary General requested the Claimants to handover all activities under them to Deputy Secretary General in charge of Political Federation.
The Claimants further said that the motif given to justify the decision of termination of staff service is not in the Treaty, neither in the staff rules and regulation nor in the employment contract of the claimants. The claimants added that instead the Treaty under Article 4(2) gives powers to the Secretary General to do all things including borrowing to keep the functions of the Community running.
The Claimants further contend that the Secretary General did not provide any evidence that the APSA support program has ended, instead the Regional Economic Community (RECs) EAC included received Communication from European Union (EU) and African Union (AU) informing it that funds were in the process of being disbursed to support program three (3) and requesting that the staff under APSA support program should be retained to ensure that the capacities that have been developed over the years by the program be sustained. In addition, that the EU and AU have informed that the new APSA support program will run from January 2016 to December 31st 2018 and that the budget allocation has been approved for AU and other RECs, EAC allocation at Euros 2,850,000.
These Applicants/Claimants are Benoit Bihamiriza from the Republic of Burundi, Didacus Kaguta from the Republic of Uganda and Patrice Mulama from the Republic of Rwanda. The Applicants filed their cases on the 15th July, 10th and 12th August 2016 respectively. Benoit Bihamiriza is a Conflict Early Warning Experts Didacus Kaguta is a Peace and Security Officer, and Patrice Mulama is a Senior Analyst Officer – Early Warning
The First Instance Division bench is composed of Honorable Judges Lady Justice Monica Mugenyi (Principal Judge), Justice Isaac Lenaola (Deputy Principal Judge), Justice Dr. Faustin Ntezilyayo, Justice Fakihi A . Jundu, and Justice Audace Ngiye
All matters will be in open Court 2nd Floor EACJ wing, EAC Headquarters, Arusha, Tanzania.