(c)
Abstain from any measures likely to jeopardize the
achievement of those objectives or the implementation of the
provisions of this Treaty.
51. We must reiterate from the onset our earlier finding that the
Minutes of the meeting of 29th July 2013 are not on record and
therefore cannot be relied upon by this Court. However, even if
we were to make reference to them, they do relate to a decision
to manage an individual shareholder’s equity in the UTC mall
rather than the assumption of the mall. Clearly there is contention
between the Parties as to whether the Commission took over
management of the UTC mall or simply assumed management of
a shareholder’s ‘abandoned’ equity therein.
52. Be that as it may, in the present Reference this Court is faced with
the question as to whether actions allegedly undertaken in
accordance with the internal law of a Partner State contravene
the provisions of the Treaty. Rwandan internal law does provide for
the management of abandoned property by the Commission.
Whether, in fact, the Commission’s actions were undertaken in
compliance with Rwanda’s internal laws is another matter. The
material before this Court raises fundamental questions as to
whether the ‘property’ in respect of which the Commission had
assumed management had actually been abandoned so as to
evoke the provisions of Law No. 28 of 2004, and whether the
Applicant was given an opportunity to be heard prior to being
deprived of the mall’s management or, indeed, rental proceeds
therefrom. The determination of those questions is critical to the
ascertainment by this Court of the Respondent’s compliance with
Articles 6(d) and 7(2) of the Treaty. It seems to us that were those
questions to be answered in the affirmative then there would be
no breach by the Respondent of Articles 6(d) and 7(2) of the
Treaty because due process that is inherent in the principles of
REFERENCE No. 10 OF 2013
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