Tema-Ghana, Feb. 28, CDA Consult – “I also wish to reaffirm Tanzania’s pledge and readiness to engage with all relevant stakeholders in order to preserve the African Court,” Dr. Philip I. Mpango, Vice President stated at the opening of the 2023 African Court Judicial Year in Arusha, Tanzania.
“The Tanzanian President Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan has directed and wants to assure the African Court that the government of Tanzania attaches great importance to the work of the African Continental Court.
“The government and people of Tanzanian also commend the achievements made so far in pursuit of an Africa of good governance, democracy, respect for human rights, justice and the rule of law as articulated by Aspiration 3 of Agenda 2063: The Africa we want,” the Tanzanian Vice President stated.
The government of Tanzania reiterate its commitment to honour the Agreement pertaining to the hosting of the African Court and implement it to the letter and spirit, Dr Mpango stated in a statement made available to the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema.
He also called on the African Court to come up with measures that will further enhance the integration of jurisprudence of regional and international human rights mechanisms into national systems.
“In this respect, I encourage judges, advocates and academicians to continue advocating for the integration of the jurisprudence of regional and international human rights mechanisms into national systems,” he said.
Dr Mpango recommended that African Court promote and integrate the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the court systems to enable judges and advocates to easily access legal materials from other jurisdictions.
He urged the African Court to conduct judicial dialogues through symposiums and other platforms that will bring together participants from different jurisdictions.
“This may contribute to a cross-fertilization of ideas between individuals of different legal systems and trigger integration of foreign jurisprudence with national systems when such individuals assume responsibilities in their respective jurisdictions,” he said.
The Tanzanian Vice President however identified some challenges to integrating the jurisprudence of regional and international human rights mechanisms into national systems.
The challenges include the potential of some judges arbitrarily making references and relying on decisions that are favourable to their opinions while glossing over the domestic context, laws and procedures.
“Under such circumstances, judges may refer certain decisions to justify their pre-conceived judgement instead of making an in-depth analysis of domestic precedents applicable to the case at hand.
“In this regard, while I encourage the integration of jurisprudence of regional, and international human rights mechanisms to national systems, I wish to point out the preservation of the autonomy of the judiciary of national systems,” he said.
He noted that ideally, the integration should be done within the context of domestic laws and legal procedures.
“In my simple understanding, the law requires that courts must carefully observe the similarities of the cases before applying the principles of a foreign court to a domestic situation,” he said.
Dr Mpango noted that the jurisprudence of regional and international human rights mechanisms is persuasive and not authoritative, stressing that references to foreign jurisprudence are only for inspiration to enable advocates and judges to determine a case at hand.
The Vice President of Tanzanian tasked the judiciaries should undertake the integration process with a sense of common judicial identity and enterprise.
He reiterated that it is the responsibility of judiciaries to interpret laws in the dispensation of justice, therefore, the integration of jurisprudence of regional and international human rights mechanisms should be done with the view to preserve the rule of law.
