rd
36. While considering the file for seizure at its 33 Ordinary Session, the African Commission
realised that the Complainants were bringing a matter that was evidently still before the High Court of
Kenya. Consequently, the African Commission deferred being seized with the communication and
sought clarification on developments that had taken place with respect to the whole constitutional
review process upon which some aspects of this communication was based. In addition, the African
Commission sought information from the Complainants as to whether or not they could not challenge
the staying orders that had been granted by the High Court before a court of superior jurisdiction in
Kenya.
37. In their response to the clarifications sought by the African Commission, the Complainants
argued that it would not be possible for them to be admitted as interested parties in the suit without
leave of court. They stated that leave is granted at the discretion of the judge and under the
circumstances they were apprehensive that leave would not be granted. Furthermore, they argued that
they could not practically enforce any right of appeal against orders obtained in a suit in which the
primary Respondent/Appellant had boycotted the court‟s jurisdiction; And even if the primary
Respondents had defended the suit, the Complainants submitted that the likelihood of enforcing their
rights as interested parties at Appeal Court would have been unsuccessful because the Court of
Appeal through Justice Moijo ole Keiwua was itself a party to a suit in the nature of a class action.
38. The Complainants argued further that the principle that they want the African Commission to
settle is whether judges can hear matters that actually affect them.
39. In their subsequent submissions on admissibility the Complainants informed the African
Commission that indeed they went ahead together with other members of the civil society in Kenya to
make an application moving court as „ordinary citizens and taxpayers‟ to join them as interested
parties in the suit against the CKRC and the Chair of the CKRC. Their“application” to be joined as
interested parties in the judicial review application was allowed.
40. Quite evidently from the situation described above, the Complainants eventually approached the
courts even though they believed that no member of the judiciary in Kenya would make a decision
against the interests of their fellow 2 judges. However, such concerns should have been eliminated
when the judges actually granted the application in their favour.
41. The African Commission is of the view that it is incumbent on the Complainants to take all
necessary steps to exhaust, or at least attempt the exhaustion of local remedies. It is not enough for
the Complainants to cast aspersion on the ability of the domestic remedies of the State due to isolated
incidences. In this regard, the African Commission would like to refer to the decision of the Human
2
Rights Committee in A v Australia in which the Committee held that “mere doubts about the
effectiveness of local remedies or prospect of financial costs involved did not absolve the author from
pursuing such remedies”.
42. The African Commission would be setting a dangerous precedent if it were to admit a case based
on a Complainant‟s apprehension about the perceived lack of independence of a country‟s domestic
institutions, in this case the Judiciary. More so, where, as in this case, the Complainants have not
adduced ample evidence to demonstrate the validity of their apprehensions. Furthermore, the
Complainants have not even tested the principle that they wish the African Commission to settle
before the domestic courts; and by so doing they are in essence asking the African Commission to
take over the role of the domestic courts, a role which clearly does not belong to the African
3
Commission as a treaty body
43. The Respondent State has argued that the issues in the communication have been overtaken by
events. Both Justices Moijo ole Keiwua and Vitalis Juma are currently on suspension and are under
investigation by a tribunal. They have also indicated that the Application brought by Justices Moijo ole
Keiwua & Vitalis Juma against the Chair of the CKRC and the CKRC is for all intents and purposes
dead because none of the parties have pursued it.