Stop manipulating and bullying the EA court to serve interests of regional elites
“On one hand, Kenya and the other partner states would like an EACJ with jurisdiction over international crimes; on the other, they do not want it to have explicit jurisdiction over human rights
The East African Legislative Assembly passed a resolution on April 26 calling on the ICC to transfer the cases of Kenya’s “Ocampo Four” to the East African Court of Justice (EACJ). This triggered a decision of the EAC Summit of Heads of States, under the chairmanship of President Mwai Kibaki, two days later, to mandate the Council of Ministers to expedite the amendment of the EAC Treaty or the conclusion of the protocol to extend the jurisdiction of the EACJ to cover, among other things, crimes against humanity. The summit further directed the Council of Ministers to consider this matter by end of May 2012 and report to an extraordinary summit to be convened immediately thereafter. The EALA was sitting in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, at a time when Kenya is holding the rotating chairmanship of the EAC.
This is not the first time that Kenya is misusing the EAC and the EACJ specifically. In 2006, in the Prof Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o & others vs. AG of Kenya & 5 Others, Reference No. 1 of 2006 suit that contended that the process of electing the nine persons deemed to be Kenya’s EALA members and the rules of Kenya National Assembly for EALA elections infringed the EAC Treaty, the EACJ ruled that that the National Assembly of Kenya did not undertake or carry out an election within the meaning of of the Treaty. It therefore directed that Kenya start the process afresh to comply with the EAC treaty.
