FORMER Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), Margaret Zziwa contemplates appealing against the Regional Court’s decision which had refused to reinstate her as the head of East African Parliament.

At the end of last week, the First Instance Division of the East African Court of Justice delivered a judgment in the case filed by Dr Margaret Nantongo Zziwa against the office of the Secretary General of the East African Community in Arusha.

Speaking after the ruling, Dr Zziwa said she was not satisfied and intends to fight for her rights farther, whether it will be at the East African Court of Justice again or elsewhere, which remains to be seen. The judgment was delivered by the Judges of the First Instance Division who included Lady Justice Monica Mugenyi (Principal Judge), Justice Isaac Lenaola (Deputy Principal Judge), Dr Justice Faustin Ntezilyayo, Justice Fakhi Jundu and Justice Audace Ngiye.

The Court in its judgment declined to grant the orders to reinstate Zziwa to the position of the Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), saying its mandate is to interpret and apply the settlement as it is stated under Article 23 and 27 of the Treaty for the establishment of the EAC within the principles set out in Articles 6, 7 and 8 of it.

The judges read that one of the principles in Article 6 (d) which is that of democracy and rule of law, necessarily include the principle of separation of powers and, therefore, it cannot be seen directing EALA on how it should conduct its business, and hence it was unable to grant the order.

Also, the Court declined to grant orders on special and general damages to the Applicant, as it found out that the Applicant had contravened Rule 9(6) of the Assembly’s Rules of Procedure, which may have triggered other actions including some being patently unlawful.