of the Treaty. The reason for this short time limit is critical – it is to ensure
legal certainty among the diverse membership of the Community”:
see Case 209/83 Ferriera Valsabbia Spa v EC Commission OJ C2009,
9.8.84 p.6, para 14, ECJ quoted in Halsbury’s Laws (supra) Para 2.43.
48. The Court is still of the same view: that the objective of Article 30 (2) is legal
certainty. It still notes that the purpose of this amended provision of the Treaty was to
secure and uphold the principle of legal certainty; which requires a complainant to lodge
a Reference in the East African Court of Justice within the relatively brief time of only
two months. Nowhere does the Treaty provide for any “`exception”` to the two month
period. Therein lies the critical difference between the EAC Treaty (which governs trade
matters as the objective of cooperation between Partner States) on the one hand; and,
on the other hand, Human Rights Conventions and Treaties which provide “exceptions”
(for continuing violations) on the grounds that securing the fundamental rights of the
citizens is of paramount essence. For this reason, the Judicial Bodies that have Human
Rights jurisdiction must strenuously uphold and protect all such rights through a liberal
and purposive interpretation.
49. As regards the instant case, however, there is nothing in the express language of
Article 30 (2) that compels any conclusion that continuing violations are to be exempted
from the two month limit. Nor does the nature of the particular violation alleged in the
instant case demonstrate any intent on the part of the drafters of the Treaty to treat
unlawful arrest and rendition as “continuous violations” for purposes of the time limit of
Article 30 (2) – see the two part test (for determining “continuing offenses”) set by the
USA Supreme Court case of Toussie v United States 397 US 112 (1970): namely, (a)
if the explicit language of the statute compels such a conclusion; and (b) if the nature of
the crime is such that Congress must assuredly have intended that it be treated as a
continuing one.
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