Tema, Nov. 10, CDA Consult – Ms. Grace Wakio Kakai, has assumed duties as the new Deputy Registrar of the African Court on Human and People’s Rights at its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.
Ms. Kakai who is a national of Kenya takes over from Mr. Nouhou Diallo, a citizen of Burkina Faso, who has retired. Before being appointed to the post, the new Deputy Registrar served as the Head of the Legal Division of the African Court.
Ms Kakai, officially assumed duties on October 1st, 2022 but in keeping with the spirit of the African Union (AU) Staff Regulations and Rules, and in conformity with Rules 19(2) of the Rules of Court took the oath of office at the 67th Ordinary Session of the African Court a document made available to the Communication for Development and Advocacy in Tema, indicated.
Lady Justice Imani Daud Aboud, President of the African Court explained that “Upon assumption of office, the Deputy Registrar shall take a similar oath or make a similar declaration before the African Court”.
The 67th Ordinary Session which started on Monday, November 7th is expected to end on Friday, December 2nd.
Focusing on the session, Lady Justice Aboud said the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights during a retreat recently agreed to adopt a roadmap that will guide their relationship going forward.
“As you all know, we are committed to the letter and spirit of complementarity and I was glad that even those colleagues who could not be there physically, found time to join us virtually.
“We have scheduled the Complementarity Roadmap for consideration and formal adoption at this session, so we can start implementation from our side,” she said.
The African Court President said the Human Rights Organs will continue to work with the Banjul Commission to see how to enhance complementarity.
“As we all know the African Court was established to complement the protective mandate of the Commission.
“In so far as both the African Court and the Banjul Commission have a primary mandate of overseeing the implementation and application of the Charter, a failure to have a workable understanding of complementarity undermines the output of the two institutions,” she said.
The African Court President also revealed a sensitization visit to Ethiopia, in a bid to have the latter ratify the Protocol and deposit the Declaration, has yielded a positive result.
“We did not come back to Arusha with a ratification, but I can assure you that it is loading. We had very fruitful and promising discussions with key stakeholders who were very hopeful the country will ratify sooner rather than later,” she said.
She also informed the house that the African Court and the Supreme Court of Ethiopia signed a Memorandum of Understanding which is the first with a national judiciary.
“We are back to Arusha, for yet another ordinary session of our Court. Our quarterly meetings have become a ritual that we have decided to honour as we took the oath of office to serve the continent.
“But as I said at the last court session, we must ask ourselves what our contributions have been in the discharge of the mandate of the African Court – what has been the impact of our activities for the past 16 years?
“How do the people we were elected to serve see us? How many decisions do we render each session? These are some of the questions that must exercise our minds each time we meet,” Lady Justice Aboud stated.
