East African regional assembly nomination row rages

East African Court of Justice photo:courtesy

Parliament wants a dispute over Kenya's nominees to the East African Legislative Assembly referred to the East African Court of Justice.

Kenya has nine seats at the regional assembly based in Arusha, five for Jubilee and four for the Opposition.

Activist Okiya Omtata has sued Parliament, arguing that it allocated all nine seats to political parties and locked out independent candidates from East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).

Both the Senate and the National Assembly object to the dispute being heard by the High Court, arguing that it is about interpretation of the East African Community Treaty, which guides how partner states should appoint EALA representatives.

"Questions touching on the validity of election of members of EALA can only be determined by the East African Court of Justice. Kenyan courts lack the jurisdiction to hear as there is no public interest involved," said lawyer Wangechi Thanji.

She accused Mr Omtatah of using the wrong documents to seek the court's intervention and wants the case dismissed to allow Parliament to continue with the process of nominating EALA representatives.

According to the lawyer, the petition challenging the nomination of EALA representatives by political parties has failed to demonstrate how the rights of Kenyans were violated and was premature and speculative.

She added that the Republic of South Sudan had filed another case at the East African Court of Justice to stop the reconstitution of EALA, and that there was no hurry in determining the Kenyan case.