By Marc Nkwame
A Ugandan Citizen, Adam Kyomuhendo has whisked into court the Attorney Generals of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania for allowing the Democratic Republic of Congo to join the East African Community.
The other respondents in the case filed at the East African Court of Justice are the Attorney Generals of Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan as well as the Secretary General of the East African Community.
The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) has however just adjourned the hearing of a Case challenging the admission of the troubled Democratic Republic of Congo into the East African Community.
An official statement from the Arusha-based regional court indicates that the First Instance Division of the EACJ reached the decision in order to allow the Applicant file responses.
Ugandan national Adam Kyomuhendo filed the case, with Reference Number 11 of 2020, against the Attorneys General of the six East African Community (EAC) partner states.
The Attorney Generals of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and the Secretary General of the Arusha-based EAC are all facing charges to that effect.
The matter is challenging the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) eligibility to join the East African Community, citing among other things the country’s human rights violations.
The Applicant Adam Kyomuhendo, an Ugandan, alleges that the DR Congo failed to meet the requirements under Articles 3(3)(a), (b), and (f) of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community.
Specifically, Kinshasa is being accused of arbitrarily detaining several Ugandan citizens, including Samuel William Mugumya, Stephen Mugisha, Aggrey Kamukama, Joseph Kamugisha, Nathan Bright, and 35 others, in poor conditions across various detention facilities, including Ndolo Military Prison.
The hearing was postponed after the Applicant; Adam Kyomuhendo requested more time to respond to written submissions made by some of the defendant governments which filed their responses out of time, leading to the Applicant’s failure to file his rejoinder on time before the session.
Lawyers representing the governments, alongside EAC Counsel to the Community, Dr Anthony Kafumbe, opposed the delay, arguing that the case has been pending since 2020 and urged the court to exercise its discretion to move the case forward.
The case was filed at the East African Court of Justice on 4th May 2020, before the DR Congo joined EAC as the 7th Member of the Community in March 2022.
The regional court granted Kyomuhendo two weeks to file his rejoinders and ordered that the matter would be determined based on submissions on record.
A date for a judgment will be communicated to the parties later.
The matter was brought before a bench of three judges of the First Instance Division who include, Hon. Justice Yohane Masara the Principal Judge, Richard Muhumuza, and Justice Leonard Gacuko
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