Nairobi, March 24 -- The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) has recently witnessed increasing cases about human rights violations and breach of the principles of democracy enshrined in the East African Community Treaty.

These cases are often filed by individuals, human rights lawyers, NGOs and civil society lobbies. Some of the accused states have variously accused the complainants of inviting the court to overstep its jurisdictional limits.

Initially, the regional court limited itself to declarations of Treaty violations. But, with time, it moved to order more robust remedies, such as compensation for aggrieved parties. It started instructing governments to take certain actions to remedy violations.

A case in point is one where the ...