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RULE OF LAW PROGRAM FOR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

PROGRESS REPORT FOR YEAR 2006

1. Promotional Tours

So far, Mr. Bossen, our Director of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation Rule of Law Program for Sub-Saharan Africa, has managed to visit South Africa, Namibia, Malawi, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi, in addition to ongoing regular meetings with various stakeholders in Kenya. The response and enthusiasm towards the program in all these countries has been very encouraging. High ranking participation in our conferences (referred to in Note 4 below) is a clear testimony of this enthusiasm and interest.

On the occasion of the AU summit held in Banjul, the Gambia, in July Mr. Bossen had the opportunity to meet several personalities including the 11 judges of the African Court on Human and People's Rights. Subsequently, we have already established direct contact with the President of the African Court on Human and People's Rights, Prof. Dr. Gerard Niyungeko, and the other individual judges. Prof. Dr. George Kanyeihamba, one of the judges of the court, was one of the key speakers at our Rule of Law in Sub-Saharan Africa conference that was held in October 2006. We have also established contacts within the African Union Secretariat.

2. Exchange Programme

In June 2006, heads of judiciaries and senior judges from 8 African countries namely, South Africa, Namibia, Malawi, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Kenya visited Germany and the USA to get first-hand experience of the operations and functions of the judiciaries in these countries.

In September 2006 Ministers in charge of Regional Integration and Foreign Affairs from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi visited Germany and Brussels for a similar experience on federalism and continental/regional integration – the European Union experience.

3. Research, Analysis and Publications

We are working with the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists on publishing comprehensive and analytical reports under the banner ‘Judiciary Watch Report’ that address various aspects of the administration of justice in Africa. In September 2006 a report entitled ‘The African Human Rights System: Towards the Co-existence of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights and the African Court on Human and People's Rights’ was launched. Authors were drawn from Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa.

A similar report focusing on the East African Community is being worked on and we hope to launch it early next year (2007).

The program also partnered with the Media Development Association to publish a monthly newsletter focusing on the constitutional review process in Kenya. The monthly editions were dedicated to analyzing some of the key contentious chapters in the rejected constitution with a view of sensitizing the public on their merits and demerits and help find a way out of the impasse.

4. Consultative Fora

During the months of October and November 2006, the program held three (3) stakeholders’ conferences – two in Kenya and one in South Africa - that addressed pertinent issues on the broad subject of the rule of law in Africa. Participants in these conferences comprised of judges, lawyers, government officials responsible for constitutional and legal affairs – mainly from the Ministries of Justice, members of the legislature, regional and national Bar and Bench associations, the civil society, media and academia, drawn from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi, Namibia and South Africa.

The conference on "The Independence of the Judiciary in Sub-Saharan Africa" was held in Kenya between October 3rd and 7th 2006. The conference was officially opened by Justice Evans Gicheru, Chief Justice of the Republic of Kenya, and was attended by over 50 participants, among them 15 judges drawn from the above mentioned countries. The Conference focused on inter alia,

• An overview of the current situation of the independence of the judiciary in Sub-Saharan Africa;

• International standards on the independence of the judiciary;

• Continental best practices and challenges in regard to the appointment, removal, promotion, disciplining, transfer and training of judges and magistrates;

• Distinct roles of key stakeholders in safeguarding the independence of the judiciary in Africa; and

• Guiding judicial reform principles towards the attainment of the independence of the judiciary in Africa.

The second conference on "The State of the Rule of Law in Sub-Saharan Africa" was held in Kenya between October 10th and 14th 2006. The conference was officially opened by Hon. Martha Karua, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs of the Republic of Kenya. It was attended by over 65 participants, among them the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs from Kenya, 16 judges, an Assistant Minister of Justice from Namibia, 8 Members of Parliament who included 3 Deputy Speakers from South Africa, Malawi and Namibia, just to mention a few. The Conference focused on inter alia,

• The roles of the legislature, judiciary and executive, as well as other key stakeholders in upholding the rule of law in Africa;

• Impunity and ravages of corruption in Africa; and

• The rule of law as a prerequisite to democracy and development.

The third conference on "Separation of Powers in Sub-Saharan Africa" was held in South Africa between November 7h and 11th 2006. The conference was officially opened by Hon. Brigitte Mabandla, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development of the Republic of South Africa, and was attended by over 50 participants from the aforementioned countries. The participants included 3 Ministers of Justice from Kenya, Ethiopia and Malawi, 25 judges, the Speaker of the National Assembly of Malawi and 6 Members of Parliament, just to mention a few. The conference focused on inter alia,

• An overview of the competences of the three arms of government in Africa;

• Presidential and parliamentary systems of government vis-à-vis the doctrine of separation of powers in Africa;

• The role of the judiciary in safeguarding separation of powers in Africa;

• Challenges and a solutions to attaining effective ‘checks and balances’ in Africa; and

• Key institutions needed to support separation of powers in a democratic state

From these conferences a volunteer committee comprising of various personalities from all the countries represented was formed to formulate clear intervention strategies that will include but not be limited to in-depth research and facilitate exchange of views among all key players with an aim of contributing towards basic Pan-African Principles and Best Practice models as relates to the operationalisation of the concept of the rule of law in Africa.

At a national level, the program partnered with the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (CJPC) to carry out nationwide workshops in Kenya whose aim was to audit the constitutional review process in Kenya and seek the way forward to the realization of a new constitution following the rejection of the proposed constitution in November 2005. These workshops targeted ordinary citizens at the grassroot level.