Council of Constitutional Inquiry as permitted under Article 6(2) of the Council’s
Proclamation 250/2001. Moreover, the Respondent State which bears the onus has not
demonstrated with evidence how a constitutional review can effectively and sufficiently
redress the first Complainant’s grievances.
42. Further, the Complainants contend that the Council of Constitutional Inquiry and
the House of Federation which has the ultimate power to interpret the Constitution and
decide constitutional disputes is composed of representatives of the various Ethiopian
nationalities. They submit that the two bodies are not courts or judicial organs for
purposes of exhaustion of local remedies, citing in aid among others, Communications
221/98 – Alfred B. Cudjoe v Ghana in which the Commission held that the remedies
which ought to be exhausted for purposes of Article 56(5) of the Charter must be those
“sought from courts of a judicial nature”.9 In the circumstances, they were not obliged
to pursue a constitutional review..
43. Furthermore, the Complainants contend that a constitutional review would be
inadequate and ineffective because the House of Federation being a non-judicial organ
would not operate impartially and has no obligation to decide requests according to
legal principles.10 Additionally, it is not sufficiently certain that a constitutional review
would succeed and therefore it offers no prospects of success as envisaged in the
jurisprudence of the Commission.11 The Complainants submit that for For this reasons
also, they were not obliged to pursue a constitutional review of provisions of the the
CSO Proclamation and their enforcement on the first Complainant..
The Commission’s Analysis on Admissibility
44. This Communication is submitted under Article 55 of the Charter which provides
for Communications other than those of State Parties to the Charter. Such a
Communications must satisfy the requirements under Article 56 of the Charter to be
considered on the merits. It is primordial that the conditions are cumulative and must
all be satisfied for this purpose. Consequently if one of the conditions is not satisfied,
Communication 221/98 - Alfred B. Cudjoe v Ghana ACHPR (1999), para. 14; and Communication No.
262/87 - R.T v France (1989) HRC, para. 7.4
10 Citing Communication 87/93 - Constitutional Rights Project (in respect of Zamani Lakwot and six
others) v Nigeria (1995) ACHPR paras. 8 & 9.
11 Communications 147/95 and 149/96 – Sir Dawda K. Jawara v The Gambia (200) ACHPR paras. 32, 35,
& 38; Communications 48/90, 50/91, 52/91 & 89/93 – Amnesty International and Others v Sudan (2000)
ACHPR para. 37
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