Tanzania taken to EAC court over pick of judge

Dar es Salaam. The Tanzanian government has been taken to court over the appointment of Justice Sauda Mjasiri as the judge of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ).

The Lady Justice was fronted by Tanzania and later appointed as the judge of the regional court and later sworn in during the February 1 Summit of the East African Community (EAC) Heads of State.

In a case filed before the EACJ, the East African Law Society (EALS) said Ms Mjasiri lacked the critical qualification that made her eligible for appointment to the position.

Having attained the age of 65 and retired from the Judiciary (of Tanzania), she lacked a critical qualification “that made her Ladyship eligible for appointment to the office of the judge of the East African Court of Justice,” said a court notification seen by The Citizen. EACJ is the supreme judicial organ of the Community mandated to interpret the Treaty and the laws governing the activities of the EAC and its organs and institutions.

Lady Justice Mjasiri was on February 1 appointed a judge of the Appellate Division of the EA Court to replace a retiring judge from Tanzania Justice Edward Rutakangwa after being nominated by the government.

But the premier bar association in the region with an observer status to the EAC in its court submission cited flaws which made the appointment of the Lady Justice subject to scrutiny and ineligible. Article 24 of the EAC Treaty provides that judges of the EACJ hold office for a term of seven years and must retire upon attaining the age of 70.

“The effect of a judge joining the Court after retiring from their own jurisdiction, aside from expressly contravening the Treaty provisions, is to deny the Court opportunity to fully realise the value of the judicial officer as they soon attain the age of 70 and vacate their positions before serving their full term of seven years”, EALS argued.

The First Respondent in the case is the Attorney General of Tanzania while the Second Respondent is the Secretary General of the EAC.

Before her retirement after attaining the mandatory age of 65 last year , Lady Justice Mjasiri had gone up the ranks to the Court of Appeal of Tanzania. The retirement age for High Court judges is 60.

While the government of Tanzania is accused of nominating a candidate for the position knowing too well it contravened the EAC Treaty, the EAC secretariat is accused for failure to verify in advance that Lady Justice Mjasiri met the conditions for appointment.

The EA law body, therefore, prays the regional Court to declare that the decision by the government of Tanzania to nominate Lady Justice Mjasiri to the Court contravened the EAC Treaty.

Another declaration is that the EAC acted in breach of the Treaty by failing to properly advise the Summit and by failing to investigate and verify the qualification of Her Ladyship before she was nominated.

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