b. If no action was taken, President Nkurunziza would run for an
unconstitutional third term of office.
c. The procedure used by the Second Respondent in arriving at the
decision to submit and accept the candidacy of President
Nkurunziza ran afoul of the Constitution of Burundi and the
Arusha Peace and Reconciliation Agreement for Burundi, 2000
(hereinafter referred to as ‘the Arusha Peace Agreement’), both of
which limit Presidential office in Burundi to two (2) terms.
d. It is therefore imperative that the interim orders sought be
granted as the Reference raised serious and fair questions for
democracy, the rule of law, good governance and transparency,
the erstwhile people (presumably of Burundi) continued to suffer
and their suffering could not be quantified or appeased by
damages, and the balance of convenience lay in favour of
allowing the main Reference.
e. It was in the best interests of justice that the orders sought be
granted.
4. On 14th July 2015, the Application was heard ex parte but the Court
declined to grant the Orders sought for the following reasons. First,
Decree No. 100/177 of the 9th June 2015 by President Nkurunziza, as
well as the Communique by the Second Respondent dated 12th June
2015, both of which were principally in issue in the Application were
submitted in French and no English translations thereof had been
availed to the Court. This was deemed to contravene the provisions of
Article 137(1) of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African
Community (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Treaty’), which prescribes
Reference No. 5 of 2015
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