Hon. Justice Steven Kavuma
KAMPALA:\r\nLawyers\r\nin East Africa have been challenged to take up cases before the Common Market\r\nof East and Southern Africa (COMESA) Court of Justice.
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The Hon.\r\nDeputy Chief Justice, Hon. Justice Steven Kavuma, said there was need to\r\nutilize the court as a dispute resolution forum. He made the remarks recently\r\nduring a publicity seminar organized by the court in Kampala to create\r\nawareness of the institution to lawyers and other stakeholders in the legal\r\nfraternity.
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Hon.\r\nJustice Kavuma, who also heads the Ugandan Court of Appeal/Constitutional\r\nCourt, applauded efforts by the COMESA Court of Justice (CCJ) to visit member\r\nstates and sensitize the people about its role and operations. He called for\r\nimproved interface between national courts and the CCJ – a court that has\r\nconcluded 46 cases since 2005.
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Hon.\r\nJustice James Ogoola, the chairman of the Ugandan Judicial Service Commission,\r\nwho spoke in his other capacity as Judge of the Khartoum-based court, said the\r\nrequirement is that all local remedies must first be exhausted before a\r\nlitigant moves to the court.
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Hon.\r\nLady Justice Lombe Chibesakunda, who is the current president described CCJ,\r\nsaid the Court is a good instrument for the integration of economies and\r\ndevelopment.
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The\r\nCCJ is the judicial arm of COMESA that handles trade disputes that occur\r\nbetween member states and can also offer advisory opinion.
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The\r\nCCJ Registrar, Nyambura Mbatia, said efforts were being made to make the court\r\naccessible to more litigants by enabling those with disputes to file their\r\ncases online. She said plans were underway to ensure that the Court holds\r\nsessions in various member states, and that sub-registries would soon be\r\nestablished in the member-states once more cases come through.
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According\r\nto Mr. Mbatia, the seminar in Kampala is the fourth to be held among COMESA\r\nmember states since the CCJ was formed. Others were conducted in Swaziland,\r\nEthiopia and Kenya.
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CCJ\r\nis composed of the Court of the First Instance comprising seven judges and the\r\nAppellate Court which has five judges.
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The\r\njurisdiction of the Court, which can be accessed by all lawyers from member\r\nstates who have valid practicing certificate, is borrowed heavily from the\r\nEuropean Court of Justice.
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At\r\nthe closing ceremony, Minister James Shinyabulo-Mutende called upon the\r\nacademia to explore ways of including modules regarding the practice in\r\nregional and international courts.
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About\r\nthe court
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The\r\nCourt of Justice, as the judicial organ of the Common Market is the backbone of\r\nthat system of safeguards. Its Judges ensure that the law is not interpreted\r\nand applied differently in each Member State, that as a shared legal system, it\r\nremains a Common Market system and that it is always identical. In order to\r\nfulfill that role, the Court of Justice has jurisdiction to hear disputes to\r\nwhich Member States, the Secretary General, residents of Member States\r\n(individuals and legal persons) may be parties.
Posted 24th, August 2015
