The East African Court of Justice Registrar has urged the government to allocate them with more funds to facilitate speedy hearing of cases.
Francis Okubo said the main challenge facing the EACJ is finance since the country is facing financial constraints.
“Common challenge is finance, we realise that in the country there are no funds and we get resources from our partner states and it is not sufficient to do our obligations,” Okubo said.
He was speaking during the opening of an induction workshop for new judges of EACJ on Wednesday in Nairobi. The workshop will run for five days.
At the same time, Okubo said EACJ judges don’t sit every day the way the national judges sit to hear cases.
“In a year, the judges come for four months. It may not be enough to handle all cases considering the matters East Africans file in court,” he added.
He said a whole year is needed to do their sittings as they cover six countries.
"We only sit four months as we cannot sit throughout the year because of resources. People are always filing more cases and we cannot ask them not to file them,” he said.
The Registrar said most of the cases filed involve citizens suing their governments for violation of treaties.
He said if the government improves economically, their budget requirements will be improved.
"Our call to government is that they have to obey the treaty, once they sign they have to obey it," he added.
EACJ President Justice Nestor Kayobera said he is happy with the induction as it will bring out the challenges that are faced by the court.
He said from February 27, this year, the summit Heads of East Africa appointed six judges of the EACJ.
First instance division are justices Yohane Masara, principal judge, Richard Muhumuza and Richard Wejuli. In the Appellate division the new judges are Kayobera who is the President of the court, Kathurima M’inoti and Anita Mugeni.
In a statement read by Supreme Court judge Smokin Wanjala on behalf of acting Chief Justice Philomena Mwilu who officially opened the workshop, Mwilu congratulated her colleagues and urged them to take the opportunity to learn more about their work.
She said the court’s role is critical to the promotion of regional integration and good governance in Eastern Africa.
“Your appointment to this Judicial Organ of the East African Community, is therefore a recognition of your knowledge, expertise, and experience in the applicable law, for the resolution of potential disputes and challenges, that are bound to arise in the course of the implementation of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community,” she said.
She added that the new judges' appointment comes at a time of profound national, regional, and international turbulence, occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic, the re-ordering of trade relations triggered by Brexit, the intensifying asymmetry in North-South relations, international terrorism and the never-ending threats to good governance, democracy and human rights in our region.
Mwilu said all these will have a direct impact on the work of the Court, thus cementing your individual and collective destiny with history.
-Edited by SKanyara
