BUJUMBURA July 6th (ABP) – The President of the EAC Court of Justice, a Burundian Nestor Kayobera, visiting Burundi, met Monday, July 5, 2021, the judges of the courts of the spring of the Mayor of Bujumbura during the course of a judicial and ethical moralization session that took place in the premises of the Supreme Court.
Before that meeting, Mr. Kayobera met with the President of the Supreme Court and the chairpersons of the chambers that compose it. The objective of those meetings, according to the President of the African Court of Justice, is to call judges to respect for laws and procedures in order to establish good governance, the rule of law and social justice in the country, as the President of the Republic recommended it in his speech on the occasion of the National Independence Day. According to Mr. Kayobera, they cannot speak of independence without justice that respects the law. Similarly, the Constitutive Treaty of the EAC in its Chapter 6 calls on the Member States to establish good governance, the rule of law and social justice. That is how he asked the judges to do everything so that there is no referral to the EAC Court following judicial decisions that would violate that treaty because, this would not be well regarded in the community but also the shortfall would be huge for the State of Burundi.
The judges present in that meeting asked questions, some of them relate to the fact that they are not dealt with at the same level as the other EAC judges, the reason why some judges do not work well. To that question he indicated that the judges must work well and claimed afterwards because, according to him, it would be absurd to claim anything when they are not working well, when everyone laments.
The President of the EAC Court of Justice also intends to talk to the judges of the courts and tribunals of the interior of the country, before going to other States which make up the Economic Community of the States of Africa from the east.
Note that Mr. Kayobera was appointed to that post in February 2021 by the Summit of Heads of State and that is the first time that this court is presided over by a Burundian with a 7-year term.