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Attorney General of Uganda v Media Legal Defence Initiative and Others (Appeal 3 of 2016)

East African Court of Justice · [2017] EACJ 50 · 2017 Appeal Allowed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Appeal from ruling of First Instance Division granting leave to act as amici curiae
Decision
Matter remitted to First Instance Division for determination of preliminary objection

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

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Holding

The Appellate Division held that the First Instance Division committed an incurable procedural irregularity by failing to determine a preliminary objection challenging the competence of an application before proceeding to hear the merits. The court quashed the ruling and directed the Trial Court to reconstitute itself to first determine the preliminary objection before considering the merits of the application for leave to act as amici curiae.

Outcome

Matter remitted to First Instance Division for determination of preliminary objection

Facts

The Respondents sought leave to act as amici curiae in Reference No. 16 of 2014 concerning Ugandan criminal defamation law. They filed a Notice of Motion supported by an affidavit of Yakoré-Oulé Jansen. The Appellant challenged the competence of the application through a preliminary objection, asserting that the supporting affidavit was incompetent, based on hearsay, and did not disclose the source of information. The Trial Court heard oral arguments on both the preliminary objection and the merits on 12 November 2015. However, in its ruling dated 28 June 2016, the Trial Court did not determine the preliminary objection but proceeded directly to grant the application on its merits.

Issues

  1. Whether the Trial Court erred in law and procedurally by failing to hold that the Respondent's Affidavit in support of the Application was incurably defective.
  2. Whether the Trial Court erred in law in holding that the Respondents had sufficiently demonstrated their interests in the outcome of the case as well as their neutrality, impartiality and independence in the dispute to justify their joinder as amici curiae in the Reference.

Orders

  • Appeal allowed.
  • Ruling of the First Instance Division dated 28th June 2016 quashed and set aside.
  • Trial Court directed to reconstitute itself and compose a fresh ruling determining the preliminary objection before considering the merits of the application.
  • Each party to bear their own costs here and below.

Rules and key headnotes

Civil Procedure — Preliminary Objections — Duty to Determine Before Merits
A court seized with a preliminary objection is enjoined by law to determine that objection before going into the merits or substance of the case or application before it, and failure to do so amounts to an incurable procedural irregularity.
Civil Procedure — Preliminary Objections — Effect of Failure to Determine
Where a trial court fails to deliver a ruling on a preliminary objection before dealing with the merits of a suit, this constitutes a colossal procedural flaw that goes to the root of the matter and renders all subsequent proceedings a nullity.
Civil Procedure — Preliminary Objections — Purpose and Effect
The aim of a preliminary objection is to save the time of the court and the parties by not going into the merits of the application because there is a point of law that will dispose of the matter summarily.
Civil Procedure — Preliminary Objections — Remedy After Notice
Once a notice of preliminary objection is given or lodged, the time to remedy the deficiency complained of lapses, and a party cannot be permitted to defeat a preliminary objection of which notice has already been given.
Administrative Law — Procedural Fairness — Denial of Right to Summary Disposal
Where a raised point of preliminary objection which would have disposed of proceedings summarily is left undetermined and the party raising it is forced to defend an incompetent proceeding, that party is greatly prejudiced through loss of time and money and is denied the vested right to have the matter disposed of at the threshold, thereby occasioning a failure of justice.
Civil Procedure — Illegality — Raising at Any Stage
Illegality of an issue is a question of law which can be raised at any time or at any stage of the proceedings with or without prior knowledge of the parties, and a court of law cannot sanction what is illegal; an illegality once brought to the attention of the court overrides all questions of pleading including any admissions made between the parties.

Cases cited (15)

  • Sangram Singh v. Election Tribunal, AIR 1955 sc 425
  • Dy.CIT v. Central Concrete and Allied Products Ltd. [1999] 236 ITR 595 (Cal)
  • McNobb v. U.S. (318) US 332
  • Uganda Railway Corporation v. Ekwaro D.G. & 5104 Others (UCA) U.L.R. [2008] 319
  • Juma Ibrahim Mtale v. K. G. Karmali (CAT) [1983] TLR 50
  • Damas Ndaweka v. Ally Saidi Mtera (CAT) Civil Appeal No. 5 of 1995 (unreported)
  • Shahida Abdul Hassenari v. Nlahed M. G. Kanji (CAT) Civil Application No. 42 of 1999 (unreported)
  • Bank of Tanzania v. Devran P. Valambia (CAT) Civil Application No. 15 of 2002
  • Thabit R. Maziku and Kisuku S. Kaptula v. Amina K. Tyela and Mrajis wa Nyaraka Zanzibar (CAT) Civil Application No. 98 OF 2011 (unreported)
  • Saggu v Roadmaster Cycles (U) Ltd [2002] 1EA (UCA)
  • Garden Square Ltd v. Kogo and Another [2002] LL.R. 1695 (KCC)
  • Attorney General of Kenya v. Independent Medical Legal Unit, EACJ Appeal No. 10 of 2011
  • The Secretary General of the East African Community v. Rt. Hon. Margaret Zziwa, EACJ Appeal No. 7 of 2015(unreported)
  • The Hon. Attorney General of Tanzania v. ANAW, Appeal No. 3 of 2011 (EACJ LR 2005-2011, p. 395)
  • Angella Amudo v. The Secretary General of the EAC, Appeal No. 4 of 2014 (EACJ LR 2012-2015 p. 592)

Full judgment

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Attorney General of Uganda v Media Legal Defence Initiative and Others (Appeal 3 of 2016) [2017] EACJ 50 (26 May 2017)
Source: this page presents Wakilii’s issue analysis and metadata for a publicly reported Ugandan judgment. Any AI-generated summary is marked as such. Judgment text is sourced from the Uganda Legal Information Institute (ulii.org). Wakilii is not affiliated with ULII.