East African Court of Justice
From TrustAfrica wiki - African Regional Organizations
East African Court of Justice
Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC) Building
Kilimanjaro Wing, 5th Floor
P.O. Box 1096
Arusha, Tanzania
Tel: + 255 27 250 9493
Fax: + 255 27 250 6093
Email: eacj@eachq.org
Website: http://www.eac.int
Justice Moijo M.Ole Keiwua, President
Justice Joseph Mulenga, Vice President
Mr John Eudes Ruhangisa, Registrar
Description
The East African Community (EAC) is the regional intergovernmental organization bringing together Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda, with its headquarters located in Arusha, Tanzania. The East African Heads of State signed the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community in Arusha on November 30, 1999.
The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) is a treaty based judicial body created to ensure adherence to law in the interpretation and application of and compliance with the East African Treaty of 1999. A maximum of six judges are appointed by the highest organ of the community, consisting of heads of state, from among persons recommended by the Partner States who are of proven integrity, impartiality and independence, and fulfill the conditions required in their own countries for high judicial office, or are jurists of recognized competence.
The East African Court of Justice replaced the East African Court of Appeals that shut its doors upon the dissolution of the East African Community in 1977. Upon the revival of the East African Community in 1999, the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community provided for a different kind of regional court. Rather than the Court of Appeals, which acted as a high court for criminal and civil matters incorporated within the legal system of each Partner State, the Treaty created the supranational Court of Justice.
The Court has jurisdiction over the interpretation and application of the Treaty. This jurisdiction is based on the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, and not the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.
Track Record
The EACJ was dormant until December 2005, when it received its first case. This landmark first case was brought by the Assembly for a determination of the legality of actions of the Council and the Secretariat in assuming control over Assembly-led Bills and delaying their presentation to the House.
This first case came on the heels of great concern over the lack of cases brought to the Court and the resulting debate over a possible extension of the Court’s jurisdiction. In June of 2005, the East African Law Society suggested to President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda that the time had come to initiate the Treaty provision for expansion of the jurisdiction of the EACJ to cover appellate jurisdiction. Call has come also for use of that provision to expand the Court’s jurisdiction to human rights. In June of 2007, the Summit approved the operationalization of the Appellate Division of the Court, reconstituting the Court effective as of July 1, 2007.
