The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) has reiterated its call for financial autonomy.
The Arusha-based judicial organ of the East African Community (EAC) insists that such autonomy will improve its performance.
"Operationalisation of financial autonomy would also boost the independence of the Court", said the President of the Court Justice Nestor Kayobera.
He appealed for support for the bid from the EAC partner states as well as from other organs of the Community.
Justice Kayobera also pleaded for increased support to the Court on the issue of permanency for the judges.
He said cases filed before the Court have increased tremendously such that
it has caused an unprecedented backlog.
He insisted during a meeting with Dr. Kevin Desai, the chairperson of the EAC Coordination Committee last week that delivery of justice cannot be compromised by backlog of cases.
He also emphasized the financial challenges facing the regional Court which is one of the key organs of the Community.
"The budget of the Court has to be increased to enable it to carry out its operations", he explained, noting that the task should not be left at the hands of the development partners.
During the current financial year (2021/22), the Court has been allocated $ 3.7million for its annual expenditure out of the $ 91.7million budget of the entire EAC.
That is far below compared to $43.8million for the Secretariat and $ 15.4million for the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala).
The allocation ratio was almost the same during the past fiscal year (2020/21) during which the Court got $3.9million out of the budget of $97.6million.
The Principal Judge Justice Yohane Masara said the cases pending at the Court were more than the sessions held.
The Court holds quarterly sessions for a month every quarter, he said, stressing the need for the case hearings to take place outside Arusha.
Dr.Desai, who is the principal secretary in Kenya's ministry of EAC Affairs, promised challenges facing the Court would be addressed.
Calls for financial autonomy have been repeatedly made for several years by the EA Court as well as Eala, the legislative organ of the Community.
To ensure it is effected to the letter, there had been proposals for amendment of the Treaty for the Establishment of the EAC.
Until now most of the finances of the EAC and its organs and institutions are overseen by the Secretariat, a powerful executive organ of the Community.
It is at the Secretariat that funds from the partner states and the development partners are channelled to for disbursement to the organs and institutions.
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