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Haye v Gambia (Communication 90 of 1993)

African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights · [1994] ACHPR 12 · 1994 Application Dismissed AI-generated summary ↓ Download Pin to watchlist Add to matter
Jurisdiction
Uganda
Case Type
Communication to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights alleging violation of right to fair hearing
Decision
Communication dismissed as inadmissible

Observed later treatment

No later-treatment classification is recorded for this judgment.

Citator coverage is limited to judgments in the Wakilii corpus and source-matched treatment records. Absence of a signal is not an assertion that the case remains good law.

AI-generated summary. This summary was generated by AI from the full text of the judgment. It may contain errors or omissions—always read the source judgment before relying on it.

Holding

The African Commission declared the communication inadmissible for non-exhaustion of local remedies. The complainant failed to appeal to the Court of Appeal of The Gambia against the Supreme Court's decision refusing leave to appeal. The Commission found no new grounds raised in the complainant's request for review and reaffirmed its decision of inadmissibility.

Outcome

Communication dismissed as inadmissible

Facts

In November 1987, the complainant hired attorney Edward Gomez to register a company and paid D7,150 in fees, but the company was never registered. In March 1990, complainant sued Mr. Gomez for return of the money. Mr. Gomez filed a counterclaim. On 2 October 1991, complainant's minivan was seized to satisfy a default judgment entered on 28 May 1991 in favour of Mr. Gomez after complainant allegedly failed to appear in court. Complainant stated he never received notification of the 28 May court date. He filed a motion for leave to appeal to the Gambia Court of Appeal, which was heard and denied by the same judge who made the original judgment. Complainant then brought a communication to the African Commission alleging violation of his right to a fair hearing.

Issues

  1. Whether the complainant exhausted domestic remedies before bringing the communication to the African Commission.
  2. Whether the complainant's right to have his cause heard under Article 7 was violated.

Orders

  • Communication declared inadmissible for non-exhaustion of local remedies.
  • Previous decision reaffirmed.

Rules and key headnotes

Human Rights — Admissibility — Exhaustion of Local Remedies
A communication to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights is inadmissible where the complainant has not exhausted available domestic remedies, including the right to appeal to a higher court against an adverse decision.
Administrative Law — Review of Decisions — New Grounds Required
Where a complainant seeks review of a decision of inadmissibility by the African Commission but raises no new grounds, the Commission will not disturb its previous decision and will reaffirm it.

Full judgment

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The original judgment as reported. Read the original PDF before relying on any passage.

Haye v Gambia (Communication 90 of 1993) [1994] ACHPR 12 (3 November 1994)
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.