The Applicant, East African Civil Society Organisations Forum (EACSOF), is a platform for Civil Society Organisations in East Africa that seeks to build ‘a critical mass of knowledgeable and empowered civil society in the region in order to foster their confidence in articulating grassroots needs and interests to the EAC (East African Community) and its various organs, institutions and agencies.’ On the other hand, the Second Respondent is the body responsible for conducting national elections in Burundi. The First and Third Respondents are self-defining.
A common thread in the Applicant’s case was that the situation in Burundi was dangerously perilous hence the need for urgent intervention, and if Mr. Nkurunziza ran for another term in office the situation would degenerate and occasion untold suffering to the Burundian and EAC citizenry. This argument was advanced as demonstration of the irreparable injury that the Burundian people stood to suffer, as well as in support of the notion that the balance of convenience in this matter lay with the Applicant, as a representative of the people of Burundi. However, learned Counsel for the First Respondent appeared to contest that position and attributed the insecurity and civic disorder in Burundi to some of the Applicant’s members, including Mr. Janvier Bigirimana. Learned Counsel questioned the injury the Applicant specifically stood to suffer in the event that this Application was disallowed.
In the result, weighing the balance of convenience in this matter, we take the considered view that to exercise our judicial discretion to protect the Applicant’s right to security, peace and stability in the absence of satisfactory proof of the injury and inconvenience likely to be suffered by that Party in the event that the injunction were not granted, would negate the corresponding obligation to protect the Burundian people against the violation of their constitutional right to timely elections, not to mention the constitutional duty upon the First and Second Respondents to organize the said Elections as by law provided.
28. Consequently, it is for the foregoing reasons that this Court respectfully disallowed the present Application with no order as to costs.
