a
president,
clear
provision
for the
same
would
have
been
included
in the
Constitution.
41. In the present circumstances, the Court notes that had the Applicant challenged
article 41(7)
before the Respondent
State’s courts the application would
have,
inevitably, been dismissed on the basis that, no Court in the Respondent State has
the power to nullify provisions of its Constitution. In this regard, the Court further
notes that a domestic remedy that has no prospects of success does not constitute
an effective remedy within the context of Article 56(5) of the Charter.'° In the
circumstances, therefore, the Court finds that the Applicant did not have a remedy
that was available for exhaustion before filing this Application."
42. In light of the above, the Court dismisses the Respondent State’s objection to the
admissibility of the Application
on the ground that domestic
remedies were
not
exhausted.
ii.
Objection on the ground that the Application was not filed within a
reasonable time
43.The
Respondent
requirements
State
argues
of Rule 40(6)
that
the
of the Court
“Application
does
Rules.” According
not
meet
the
to the Respondent
State, “the Applicant’s case at the local jurisdiction was concluded in 2010 where
the Court of Appeal of Tanzania dismissed the appeal. It has taken eight years for
the
Applicant
to file his
application
in this
Honourable
Court.”
Although
the
Respondent State concedes that neither the Charter nor the Rules prescribe a time
limit within which an individual is required to file an application, it submits that the
Application “does not fulfil the provisions of Article 56(6) of the African Charter
together with Rule 40(6) of the Court Rules, thus it should be rejected by the Court.”
10 Alfred Agbes Woyome v. Republic of Ghana, AfCHPR, Application No. 001/2017, Judgment of 28 June
2019 (merits and reparations) §§ 65-68.
"Cf. Constitutional Rights Project, Civil Liberties Organisation and Media Rights Agenda v. Nigeria, African
Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (2000) AHRLR (ACHPR 2000) 227.
12