CHALLENGES AWAIT TANZANIAN LADY JUSTICE PICKED AFRICAN COURT PRESIDENT

 

It may have been an easy ride to the top as the President of the African Court on Human and People's Rights (AfCHPR). 

But Lady Justice Imani Daud Aboud from Tanzania faces a herculean task at the helm of the judicial organ of the African Union based in Arusha.

On Monday she was elected the sixth president of the Court to succeed Justice Sylvain  Ore from Cote d'Ivoire whose tenure has ended. 

The Tanzanian Lady Justice takes over at a time the pan African Court has lost its credibility as many African states shunned it. 

This is so because out of the 55 AU member states, only 31 countries have ratified the protocol that created it in 1998. 

That is despite concerted efforts by the AU Commission and the past presidents of the Court to reach out dozens of the African leaders. 

One of the drawbacks has been failure by the majority -nearly all -of the African states to sign a Declaration on NGOs and individuals to file cases directly before it. 

As she took over the reins yesterday,  only six countries have appended signatures to the provision known as Article 34 (6). 

But most discouraging has been the pullout of some African states, including the host country Tanzania, from the Declaration. 

In a period of four years from 2016, four countries - Tanzania, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire and Rwanda have ditched the provision.

Lady Justice Aboud has to seek ways to put in place mechanisms that would enable the Court to win back trust of the African leaders. 

That is, however, no easy task for the former Judge of the High Court of Tanzania and  law graduate from the University of Dar es Salaam.

The majority of the African leaders knew too well what the mandate of the Court was; to handle cases pertaining to human rights violations in the continent. 

That mandate has not been popular among some leaders given their record in matters pertaining to the rule of law and good governance.

That is not to say little has been done by her predecessors. Since around 2010, the Court presidents had been on sensitization missions around Africa. 

Thirty one countries have ratified the protocol for the Court's establishment while 24 are yet to do so for reasons not clear. 

This has put the Court leadership and the AU Commission in an awkward position on the commitment of the countries which signed its creation in 1998. 

"It is strange why some African countries willingly created AfCHPR but do not allow their citizens to file cases before it", remarked Ms Magdalena Sylvester, a law lecturer here.

The other equally intriguing challenge is why the court rulings (decisions) made by the Court are not implemented by parties to the AfCHPR protocol.

According to the official of the Court, about 90 percent of about 160 rulings made had not been implemented.

Since it started operations after relocating to Arusha in 2007, the Court has received a total of 320 applications, 65 percent of them from Tanzania.

Lady Justice Aboud has also to deal with the delay of the Court to construct its permanent premises in Arusha after securing a plot for the purpose some years back.

She is the second Tanzanian to win the post after the late Judge Augustino Ramadhani who served in the position from 2014 to 2016.