via Africa Liberty
The African Union (AU) in an early 2015 historical summit with ministers of AU countries reechoed the desire for the creation of an African Court of Justice and Human Rights (African Court of Justice). This was after a lot of contestation with respect to the bias role the International Criminal Court (ICC) has played in judging Africans leaders especially. According to a report by Voice of Nigeria dated February, 03, 2015, during the above mentioned AU summit in Addis Ababa, President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, who was one of the first Head of States to sign the Malabo protocol establishing the new African Court of Justice, was of the view that the proposed African Court of Justice was here to stay and announced that Kenya was going to contribute 1 million U.S. dollars for the African Court of Justice to go operational.
The creation of the African Court of Justice brings to mind several concerns. Now that Africa is composed of several states with varying judicial practices, what legal system will the African Court of Justice opt for in her judgments? How are the judges for this court going to be selected and will these judges be independent and impartial from the whims and caprices especially of African Head of States? Are all member states going to support the running of this court financially or will the court depend on foreign aid as several regional bodies on the continent?
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