The majority of East Africans know little or nothing about the nature and operation of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ), a major challenge the court is trying to overcome.

Based in Arusha, Tanzania, the court is one of the seven key organs of the East African Community (EAC) and was established under Article 9 of the Treaty establishing the regional bloc.

Its responsibility is to ensure the adherence to law in the interpretation and application of and compliance with the EAC Treaty and its protocols, but not necessarily to interfere with rulings by courts in the five partner jurisdictions.

"One of the key challenges is that the court is not well known in the five member states,” Dr Emmanuel Ugirashebuja, the president of the EACJ, said yesterday at a workshop in Kigali organised to popularlise the court’s activities.

"The other role of the court is to receive preliminary references from national courts in order to determine or interpret a given question. It is important because this role will lead to harmonisation in terms of interpretation of the Treaty.”

The court has no criminal jurisdiction, nor is it a regional appellate court.

"We are not infringing on the jurisdiction of national courts and the cases we receive are mostly cases against either institutions of the EAC or an alleged breach of the Treaty or protocols by the partner states.

"Sometimes there are cases we receive and we do not have jurisdiction. National courts are independent of what we do because we don’t have a similar mandate.”

Ugirashebuja said the Court has since 2001 handled 151 cases. Of these, 85 are on substantive matters while the remaining 76 are on applications arising from the substantive cases.

Chief Justice Prof. Sam Rugege said the regional court is charged with interpreting the Treaty to ensure that it is observed, as well as resolving disputes – between states or citizens – that might arise during enforcement of the Treaty.

"In the integration process, especially in trade relations, the Court will be able to give authentic interpretation of the Treaty,” Prof. Rugege said.

Rwandan judges are being taken through how the national courts relate with the Court and how the latter functions.

Rugege explained that if a question arises regarding the interpretation of the EAC Treaty, a national court can refer the matter to the EACJ for a preliminary ruling on what the Treaty says and "that interpretation will help the local court to make a decision on the substantive case.”

"This helps to establish some uniformity between (EAC member) countries because if each national court took its own decision on the Treaty, there might be inconsistencies. The EACJ will establish common standards which will be applied in all countries.”

Another challenge, the EACJ president said, is a lean workforce which limits the court’s capacity to carry out its mandate.

Ugirashebuja said the Court has about 20 employees today but an institutional review is underway to clarify on how many are required and how they can be obtained.