This week, chief justices from the East African Community (EAC) signed a protocol on extended jurisdiction in order to speed up cases involving trade disputes in the region.
According to a statement from the Trade Law Centre, the protocol includes a draft framework to allow judiciaries from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and Zanzibar to cooperate and share experiences and expertise, harmonise jurisprudence and jointly confront challenges to the administration of justice in the EAC.
“The process of regional integration, by its very nature, generates disputes between states and citizens and the judiciaries have stepped in to solve these peacefully and amicably,” said Ugandan chief justice, Bert Katureebe.
He noted that the signed protocol – which was at various levels of ratification in partner states – allowed judiciaries in the region to receive and decide on cases involving trade and investment matters emanating from the implementation of the Customs Union and Common Market Protocols.
Additionally, the protocol provides that each country in the region sets aside 2.5% of their national budget for the judiciary in order to improve access to justice – which is limited. One of the leading challenges identified in the region was the limited funding of the judiciary.
Kenyan chief justice David Maraga pointed out that other bottlenecks to trade dispute resolutions in the EAC were the limited resources for expanding courts, heavy case backlog and insufficient coordination of the justice sectors which resulted in inefficiencies.
