EAC pushes for one constitution

The East African Community (EAC) has started exploring ways of having a common constitution for all the five partner states. Beatrice Kiraso, the EAC Deputy Secretary General (Political Federation), said the decision was taken during the recent EAC retreat in Mwanza, Tanzania. “The process of coming up with one Constitution is a very long one, and this is the right time to start it,” Kiraso told reporters on the sidelines of the ongoing EAC media summit in Nairobi, Kenya. She said a draft document will first be developed and then popularised among the bloc’s population, after which it would be subjected to a referendum. Kiraso also discouraged Kenyans from seeking the intervention of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to settle the country’s 2007/8 post-election violence cases. She, instead, advised the county to make good use of the East African Court of Justice, saying it was the right platform since it’s provided for by the EAC treaty.“Why don’t we first exhaust our own judicial options?” she asked. The Kenyan government prefers a national tribunal to try the cases, but many in the country prefer The Hague-based ICC, citing possible manipulation of a local judicial process. The International Criminal Court recently issued summons to six suspects in Kenya’s post-election violence. Ends

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EAC pushes for one constitution