Kenya / EAC chief justices and judges start session in Nairobi / Hon. Beatrice Kiraso calls for strong regional judicial systems
NAIROBI, Kenya, December 8, 2009/African Press Organization (APO)/ — The second annual meeting of EAC Chief Justices got underway today in Nairobi, Kenya with a call on Partner States’ to jointly address the various challenges the sector faces.
The EAC Deputy Secretary General in charge of Political Federation, Hon. Beatrice Kiraso said at the opening of the meeting that the time had come to examine the efficiency and effectiveness of Partner States’ judicial mechanisms and jointly address the various challenges that the sector faces in order to support increased activities of the EAC integration.
”Can we be brave enough to acknowledge that our judicial systems could be better?” she asked.
Hon. Kiraso said the judiciary is at a vantage point to be an elemental player in the promotion of good governance given the interlink between the judiciary and all other pillars of good governance, enforcing respect for human rights, adjudication of conflicts among the institutions of governance, the fight against corruption, abuse of power and in upholding the rule of law and access to justice.
”On the basis of this centrality and with the realization that administration of justice is an important aspect of good governance, challenges that touch investigations, prosecution, the judiciary itself, prisons, witnesses, among others, should be discussed and addressed,” she stressed.
She urged the Chief Justices to consider ways to reduce prison congestion by devising alternatives to incarceration alongside mechanisms to speedy administration of justice.
The meeting acknowledged the urgent need to strengthen the East African Court of Justice into a real regional court, adding that this would offer the EAC an intermediate judicial opportunity between the national and international levels. ”As the integration deepens, probably a time has come to also think of developing your regional institution,” Hon. Kiraso added.
After the signing of the Common Market last month by the EAC Heads of State, she informed about 50 top judges and judiciary officials that now the stage was set for the establishment of EAC Monetary Union.
Technical experts, she said, are working on the harmonisation of fiscal and monetary policies and the Monetary Union is envisaged to be achieved by 2012.
”The three stages once finalized, will have paved way for the Political Federation—the ultimate goal of the EAC,” she stated, however, underlining that a lot has to be done to lay a firm foundation for that ultimate goal and the process is ongoing.
In his opening remarks, the Chief Justice of Kenya, Justice Evans Gicheru, underscored that the courts are the guardians of the citizens and urged his fellow judges to cooperate in the promotion of the rule of law and the promotion of good governance in the EAC by inspiring other actors in the leadership.
”We cannot achieve good governance without well-performing judicial institutions that fight against corruption,” he said.
The chairperson of the session, Justice Augustino Ramadhani of Tanzania, said that the Forum was an important step to strengthen good governance and justice in EAC Partner States and that more efforts of harmonisation should be encouraged.
The meeting follows the inaugural session in Kigali, Rwanda, where the Chief Justices recommended the establishment of EAC Forum of Chief Justices to be charged with policy initiation in the area of co-operation in the judicial sector, including development of best practices and standards, mechanisms to promote EAC jurisprudence, upholding the rule of law and constitutionalism in the promotion of good governance.
The Chief Justices said that although the EAC Judicial Education Committee existed within the EAC institutional framework, it reports to the Sectoral Council of Legal and Judicial Affairs, headed by the Attorneys General of the Partner States. This does not facilitate the involvement of Chief Justices as an independent organ of the national governments in the EAC integration, including policy making and sharing of information and experiences with a view to building best practices.
The two-day Nairobi meeting, which is coordinated by the EAC Secretariat, will review progress towards implementing recommendations made at the Kigali meeting.
It is also attended by the President and Judges of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) and will also receive presentations from representatives of Transitional Justice Programme based in Cape Town, South Africa as well as EACJ, African of Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).
SOURCE
East African Community (EAC)
