ARUSHA —The East African Court of Justice has summoned the Kenyan Attorney General to appear in Court next week to justify why the just sworn in President of Kenya William Ruto was in 2021 blocked from travelling to Uganda.
The summons issued by the East African Court of Justice Deputy Registrar Christine Mutimura- Wekesa arise from a case filed by Dr. Paul Bamutaze a Ugandan national and the Chief Executive Officer of East African Book of Records against the Kenyan Government.
The official representative of the Kenyan Government,the Attorney General is required to attend court on September 20th 2022 in the morning and appear before a panel of five Justices who have been lined up to hear the case which among others seeks an order to declare the actions by the government as illegal.
The Justices are:
Yohane Masara the Principal Judge, Charles Nyawello the Deputy Principal Judge, Justice Charles Nyachae, Richard Muhumuza and Justice Richard Wejuli.
“Please take note that if there is no appearance on your part ,the Court will proceed to hear the case and make necessary orders ,your absence not withstanding”, reads the summons.
They stem from Ruto’s botched August 2021 visit to Uganda.
By the time Bamutaze filed his case, Ruto who was then the Deputy President of Kenya had been blocked at Wilson Airport from flying to Uganda by the Kenyan Immigration officials who said that he did not have clearance from his then boss President Uhuru Kenyatta now his predecessor for the trip which was going to be the second in less than one month.
But following this, a section of Kenyan Members of Parliament subscribing to the opposition party, the Orange Democratic Movement -ODM said that Ruto was going to Uganda to borrow lessons from it’s ruling National Resistance Movement ahead of the just concluded 2022 elections when actually there is nothing good for him to borrow from the President Yoweri Museveni led party.
According to the Mps who were led by Junet Muhamed while they did not wish to interfere with internal political arrangements in other countries , they never wanted to borrow from other countries political habits whose end result can only lead to chaos and backwardness of their country.
“The NRM record on human rights is not worth borrowing. The NRM record on democracy is not worth borrowing. The NRM record on freedom of press is not worth borrowing. The NRM record on uplifting people from poverty is not worth borrowing”, said the legislator .
As a result, Dr Bamutaze sued the government of Kenya arguing that the said statements by the Kenyan legislators contravened a number of provisions in the East African Treaty where Kenya is a signatory.
Bamutaze argued that the statements contravened principles of democracy, rule of law , accountability, transparency and the mantainance of universally accepted standards of Human Rights , equitable distribution of benefits and cooperation for mutual benefit.
Through his lawyers of Nsubuga K.S and Company Advocates, Bamutaze added that the statements the way he understood them were intended to cast bad light to his country’s image as well as the President of Uganda General Museveni since is he is the Chairperson of NRM.
“His contribution towards the East African Community , East African integration and unity are well known and hence uttering such derogatory and demeaning statements only point towards causing ridicule and disunity among member States”, adds Bamutaze.
He asked Court to declare that the said statements by the Kenyan legislators contravened a several provisions in the East African Community Protocol and also be condemned to pay costs of the petition. It’s against this background that the case is to be heard next week hence the summoning of the Kenyan Attorney General.
The summons have come at the time when William Ruto has just a few hours ago been sworn in as the 5th President of Kenya having defeated his closest challenger Raila Odinga in the last month’s presidential elections.
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