Farewell to a frank, affirmative man

Arusha. He stood tall among his fellow judges as they entered the chamber of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ).

Upon taking their seats, he would usher the panel and the seated audience onto a high profile case which has dragged for months.

It was a day of judgement for an application filed by Kenya politicians challenging their government’s nomination of members to the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala).

Judge Augustino Ramadhani, then a judge of the EACJ, was the one to revisit the suit before the ruling was read by Judge Joseph Mulenga, a fellow judge from Uganda.

He was in his true element; frank and affirmative as he introduced the subject matter to the courtroom packed with those eager to hear the ruling.

That was on November 27, 2006 and the venue was Tausi Room at the Arusha International Conference Centre (AICC), turned into a court chamber.

The court ruled in favour of a famous Kenyan politician Anyang’ Nyong’o and ten others. They prayed the nomination of Kenyan candidates for Eala posts start afresh

Judge Ramadhani was one of two judges to EACJ from Tanzania; the other being Judge Joseph Sinde Warioba. By then he had already held other higher positions in the Judiciary.

Top among those is having served as the Chief Justice of Zanzibar and served in various boards/committees of a host of national, regional and international judicial bodies.

After his seven-year (2001-2007) tenure at EACJ ended, he landed on one of the topmost jobs in the country’s judicial system; the Chief Justice of Tanzania.

But Judge Ramadhani, who passed away last week and buried on Saturday, had his niche blended with his experience in the Judiciary; advocacy for human rights, rule of law and good governance.

It was no wonder he was one of the judges of the African Court of Human and People’s Rights (AfCHPR) from 2010, later becoming the Arusha-based Court’s president in 2014 to 2016.

Upon taking over as the African Court’s President, he took no time to express his feelings on the Court which is a judicial organ of the African Union (AU).

His message was simple and clear; the Court was not much known, not only across Africa, but also in Tanzania, the host country.

“Even here in Arusha, there are people who wondering if there is such Court in the city,” he said during a live interview with a local TV channel.

Those who closely followed his interview, especially people working or residing in Arusha either wondered or were not entirely surprised by the trend.

Some observed the pace with which a regional or international organization will be ‘known to the public’ depended largely on the nature of its activities.

But others were of the view that the African Court’s mandate could be a major reason for its ‘fallout’ among some African states, leaders and policy makers.

The Court was established by the AU member countries in 1998, and operationalized in 2006, to determine cases pertaining to violation of human and people’s rights.

But there had been a feeling that the organ could have been shunned by a number of countries due to their questionable human rights record.

He truly remarked:”Some African countries are traditionally averse over human rights issues.

“To date only about a half (30) of 55 AU member countries have ratified the protocol establishing AfCHPR”.

And only seven countries, including Tanzania, have allowed individuals and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to file applications before the Court.

It was because of this that the late Judge of the African Court initiated sensitization missions to all corners of Africa to inform leaders on its activities.

“We have not been very successful in depositing declarations. In fact one has been withdrawn. But I dare say that is also an achievement,” he told The Citizen in an interview.

He cited lack of political will by some AU member states, staff shortage and funding problem as among the major challenges facing the Court.