Secretary General brought to the attention of the 1st Respondent some
matters of alleged violations of its Treaty obligations, including
allegations that were mentioned in the letter above from Mr. Rufyikiri.
105. It was also Counsel’s submission that rather than waiting to be
prompted to act by litigants, the 2nd Respondent ought to have acted
on his own and should have exercised pro-activeness in as far as
bringing Partner States to account regarding their actions especially
those actions that seemingly violate the Treaty’s provisions.
106. In response to the Applicant's contentions referred to above, the 2nd
Respondent categorically denied any wrongdoing. He rather brought
out several actions undertaken as highlighted in his case above, but
pointed out that these actions did not bear any positive results,
because they have been frustrated by the 1st Respondent’s lack of
cooperation as regards the operationalization of the Task Force set up
to investigate the alleged breach of the Treaty provisions by the
Republic of Burundi even before the instant reference was filed on 17th
February 2014.
Determination of Issue No. 3
We have carefully reviewed the parties’ pleadings and submissions on this
matter and we opine as follows:
107. It is on record that by his letter Ref. ORG/2/1 of 11th November
2013 mentioned above, the 2nd Respondent brought to the attention of
the 1st Respondent, through the Minister to the Office of the President
Responsible for EAC Affairs, two claims about land and property
matters while stressing that those claims, if not handled properly,
could give rise to failure of due process. In the same letter, the 2nd
Respondent expressed his concern at the proliferation of litigation from
the Republic of Burundi mainly relating to allegations of failure of due
REFERENCE NO.1 OF 2014
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