The Arusha based East African Court of Justice (EACJ) has ruled that former Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), Margaret Zziwa be paid Shs 1.2 billion in compensation and court costs for having been wrongfully removed from office.
Zziwa, the first woman to be Speaker of the regional legislative assembly was impeached by EALA legislators in December 2014 for alleged misconduct, abuse of office and disrespect to members.
Her impeachment followed a report by EALA’s Committee on Legal, Rules and Privileges which recommended that the House removes her from office with immediate effect.
During the sitting in which the impeachment motion was adopted, 36 EALA members out of the 39 members voted in support of Zziwa’s impeachment while only 2 voted against it.
However, Zziwa challenged the action and filed a case in the East African Court of Justice which in February 2016 allowed her to proceed with her case. She was seeking USD 2 million (Shs 7.1 billion) in compensation for what she called illegal removal from office.
Court had sidelined attempts by the then EAC Secretary General to block Dr Zziwa from suing EALA.
In its ruling today, the Appellate Division of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) stated that Margaret Zziwa was illegally removed from office and should be compensated Shs 432 million. In addition, EALA will foot court costs totaling to Shs 720 million.
The case was before Justices Dr Emmanuel Ugirashebuja (President of the Court), Liboire Nkurunziza (Vice-President), Justice Edward Rutakangwa, Aaron Ringera and Geoffrey Kiryabwire.
The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) is a treaty-based judicial body of the East African Community tasked to ensure adherence to law in the interpretation and application of and compliance with the East African Community Treaty of 1999.