Court of Appeal to hold Case Management Conference on BBI case next Wednesday

The Court of Appeal now says a three-judge bench will sit next week on Wednesday to give directions to parties in the BBI case.

In a letter to parties on Friday, the deputy registrar Court of Appeal M.K. Serem says there will be three judges who will handle the case management.

Several respondents including Economist David Ndii who are against BBI had asked the Court of Appeal President Justice Daniel Musinga to constitute a seven or 11-judge bench to hear the appeal.

Serem said the directions are in relation to the letters that were sent to the court and addressed to Justice Musinga.

Serem told the parties that he had been directed to inform them that there will be a case management conference on June 2, 2021, which will be held physically before three judges.

The directions also state that the case management shall provide an opportunity for the judges to give appropriate directions on various issues including if they will hear the substantive appeal or applications for stay.

Lawyer Nelson Havi and Elias Mutuma in their letters had asked the court to consider a case management conference before the hearing can proceed.

Early this week, the appellate court had directed each of the parties to file three-page submissions that the judges will use in making determinations.

But, Havi opposed the directions saying the grounds upon which the intended appeals are premised are so extensive and vast and cannot be effectively undertaken in three pages as had been directed earlier by the court.

The court has also allowed their request for a physical court hearing.

The parties will now be heard by the three judges physically and the registrar says only one lawyer per party will be allowed in court.

The Court of Appeal is yet to release the names of the three judges who will preside over the matter next week.

Lawyer Elias Mutuma for Thirdway Alliance who wrote the first letter to the court asking for a bigger bench says these directions don’t mean that the three judges will be the ones to hear the appeal.

Mutuma says usually it’s the deputy registrar who handles directions in appeals but it’s a privilege that they will be before a three-judge bench to take directions.

“Case conference or case management is usually done by the deputy registrar not even the judges themselves so its even an honour that we are doing it before judges it does not in any way mean that the president has appointed a bench,” Mutuma says.