EAC court shrugs off case against Nkurunziza term

Civil society organisations in the region challenging the validity of Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza’s third term in office. photo | file

What you need to know:

  • In their application to court, the East African Civil Society Organisations’ Forum (EASCOF) had alleged that the decision of the Constitutional Court of Burundi to allow President Nkurunziza run for a third term “violated the letter and spirit of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi."

Kampala. The First Instance Division of East African Court of Justice on Thursday dismissed a case filed by civil society organisations in the region challenging the validity of Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza’s third term in office.

In their application to court, the East African Civil Society Organisations’ Forum (EASCOF) had alleged that the decision of the Constitutional Court of Burundi to allow President Nkurunziza run for a third term “violated the letter and spirit of the Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi.”

“The court in its decision declined the application by the applicant to interrogate/ review, revise the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Burundi. It further added that it has primacy in the interpretation of the treaty but its mandate does not extend to the interrogation/review of the decisions of other courts in a judicial manner such as being asked by the applicant of the Constitutional Court in this matter,” a statement indicated.

The interrogation, according to the EACJ, would require the regional court to exercise powers of an appeals court over the said decisions which jurisdiction the EACJ Court does not have.

The judges observed that the independence of the courts of partner states was a paramount principle of the rule of law as envisaged in Articles 6 (d) and 7 (2) of the treaty, adding that they could not, therefore, in upholding those principles, interfere with that independence.

The EASCOF had also challenged the decision of Burundi’s ruling CNDD-FDD political party to nominate President Nkurunzinza as a candidate for election to the Office of the President, claiming that it violated the Arusha Accord but they ruled that the decision was “time barred”.

“That the decision was made on April 25, 2015 and, therefore, any challenge to it ought to have been filed before Court on or before June 3, 2015. That since the Reference was filed on July 6, 2015, it clearly shows the matter was time barred,” Justice Isaac Lenaola, the deputy principal judge, First Instance Division, noted in the ruling. (NMG)