A body of jurisprudence is emerging in Africa's most active regional courts on the independence of national judiciaries. This article reveals that while regional case law relevantly echoes efforts by municipal courts to safeguard themselves, circumstances demonstrate that such case law requires greater contextualization across systems. In this regard, the traditional paradigm of linking independence to executive appointments does not empirically stand the test of the multiplicity of independence factors, executive-free regimes have not proved effective in safeguarding independence, and legal traditions or judicial systems have increasingly become irrelevant to the effectiveness of any independence regime. Factors that transcend the traditional determinants of executive control include the nature and functions of the court involved, and the history and background of the judicial structure of the country or region. Notably, the discussion also reveals the need to strike a critical balance between individual rights to a fair trial and inter-state directive policy towards judicial independence as set out in the African Charter.

Indigenous or traditional knowledge (TK) systems are the springboard of authentic African innovation and creativity. However, there has been no adequate attempt to determine whether Africa internalizes its comparative advantage in Indigenous knowledge systems in its continental frameworks for socio-economic and development collaboration and aspirations. Despite TK's presumed significance and Africa's proactive promotion of Indigenous knowledge in international fora, TK is treated marginally in key instruments, perhaps as a legacy of colonially entrenched contempt for Indigenous knowledge systems. For Africa to effectively participate in the science and technology revolution, it is necessary to have an introspective and critical appraisal of the present traction around Indigenous knowledge, which is a logical starting point for effective science, technology and innovation policy-making in furtherance of African socio-economic and development collaboration in the knowledge economy.

The Kampala Convention is a global first, yet, over a decade since it came into force, Africa hosts more than half of the world's internally displaced persons (IDPs). This article explores how the Kampala Convention could mitigate internal displacement by asking which of the enforcement mechanisms in the convention would work best to protect and advance durable solutions for IDPs in Africa. The convention adopts a state obligation model and contains judicial and non-judicial enforcement mechanisms. Evaluation of these mechanisms reveals some flaws, including the unclear mandate of the Conference of States, an inoperative African Court and private actors lacking locus standi. The article argues that some amendments to the convention are necessary to foster enforcement. Literature on internal displacement in Africa from an enforcement perspective is limited, so this article makes a significant contribution.

Djibouti and Eritrea have been in conflict since June 2008 when their troops fought along the Djibouti–Eritrea border. The conflict revolves around the location of the border and sovereignty over the strategically located Doumeira Islands and adjacent reefs. In 2010 Qatar brokered a mediation agreement and began to implement it, but withdrew in 2017 without notifying Eritrea and without providing reasons to either country. The dispute raises a number of international law issues. This article focuses on the validity and application of three relevant colonial treaties (from 1900, 1901 and 1935) that defined the boundary, one of which (the 1935 Treaty) did not enter into force. Issues relevant to the determination of the borderline and sovereignty over the disputed islands and the unique challenges that may arise are discussed in light of the colonial treaties, relevant International Court of Justice jurisprudence and other international law principles, particularly uti possidetis juris.

One of the primary goals of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is to establish a single market for goods and services in order to achieve economic integration in Africa. Experts opine that the AfCFTA can be a game changer for improving intra-African trade and may pave the way to economic diversification and inclusion. To maximize the potential of the AfCFTA, African nations must eliminate or minimize trade and non-trade barriers that can undermine the AfCFTA's true intention. Nigeria is the largest economy in Africa; therefore for the AfCFTA to flourish, Nigeria must implement targeted industrial, structural and policy changes to facilitate the achievement of the AfCFTA's objectives. This article addresses protectionist cabotage as a non-tariff trade hurdle to AfCFTA aims, as well as the need for Nigeria to abolish or liberalize its restrictive regime on domestic cabotage trade. It proposes that Nigeria should take the lead in campaigning for a regional cabotage regime and eliminate its protectionist policy.

Certificates of title are a feature of the Torrens system of land registration which originated in Australia and which operates in Uganda. The system confers primary responsibility to register title, and guarantee its security, upon the state. A certificate of title is indefeasible and conclusive evidence of ownership, except in cases of fraud by the registered proprietor. This article uses a doctrinal legal research approach to analyse the legal framework on certificates of title, citing court decisions to give an interpretive lens to the law. It finds that the almost century-old system remains immature and its actualization is hampered by the socio-political context of Uganda. Certificates of title are a feature of a capitalist order and produce unfavourable outcomes, including fraud through double titling, illegal entries in the register and spurious caveats. Government needs to address the socio-political and administrative challenges inhibiting the evolution and practical application of the Torrens system in Uganda.

Many countries write their constitutions with some form of international involvement. Internationalized constitutional assistance has been made easier by technology as well as trade and political exigencies. The question, therefore, is: How does this inevitable foreign influence impact constitutional legitimacy? This article discusses this question and asserts that foreign influence interacts with three approaches of constitutional design to shape constitutional legitimacy: (a) popular participation, (b) elites’ contracts, and (c) transnational constitutional implants. Such a transactional relationship is referred to as the “three-stone legitimacy theory”, which implicates both the internal and the external legitimacy of a constitution. The former means citizens’ acceptance that a constitution meets their aspirations, while the latter refers to the international community's satisfaction with the resulting constitution as guaranteeing the universal democratic ethos. The article ends with a proposition conceptualized as a “blueprint” for a democratic constitutional legitimacy in South Sudan.

Article 32(3) of the Constitution of Uganda (1995) establishes the Equal Opportunities Commission; section 14 of the Equal Opportunities Commission Act provides for the functions of the Commission. These include ensuring that the laws, policies and customs of both public and private entities are not discriminatory and do not marginalize any person or deny him / her equal opportunities. The Commission has handled a few complaints dealing with discrimination, affirmative action, marginalization and impairment of equal opportunities. I rely on the drafting history of the Act, among other sources, to argue, inter alia, that the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination under the Act is exhaustive and that the Commission does not have jurisdiction to deal with complaints alleging discrimination on some grounds. I demonstrate that the Commission has been inconsistent in its definition of discrimination and in dealing with remedies where it has found instances of discrimination, marginalization or denial of opportunities. In some cases, the Commission has blurred the distinction between discrimination and marginalization.

Child labour is prevalent in both developed and developing countries and has become a global concern. This is because of the negative impacts that it has not only on the human rights and fundamental freedoms of children, but on their development and health due to possible exposure to hazardous substances. This article interrogates the magnitude of the problem of child labour in the gold mines of Uganda and seeks to highlight the gaps in the existing legal framework on the protection of Ugandan children from hazardous labour. It asserts that although poverty and a failed educational system are believed to be the root causes of child labour in Uganda, weak and inefficient laws coupled with a lack of coordination between institutions responsible for protecting the child contribute equally. Thus there is need for political will by the government of Uganda to help prevent the problem.

The socio-economic and productive strength of every nation is determined by the health (the physical, mental and psychological wellbeing) of its people. To guarantee this, the constitutions of some countries, including Nigeria, provide for the right to health, and have framed institutional and policy systems to operationalize and realize this goal, as one of the major objectives of governments. However, despite this great intention on paper, the realization of good healthcare for most of the citizens of this country is still a mirage, despite legal and policy interventions in the form of human rights. The question is, can a rights-based approach to healthcare facilitate or guarantee the realization of this normative claim through access to medical care? This article contends that mere legal and policy frameworks that guarantee the right to health do not automatically engender access to good medical care, as there are hurdles to cross beyond the “limit of available resources”.

The statutory formulation of the rules of evidential admissibility in African jurisdictions can be characterized into two, positive and negative, broad categories. This article uses the Sowetan trope of a pair of conjoined twins, popularly known as Mpho le Mphonyana in South Africa, to analyse these two formulations with a view of exposing eight doctrinal, institutional and theoretical fallacies associated with these (English) common law colonial inheritances in Africa. The continued, and popular, focus on the Euro-American world by African Evidence scholars, notwithstanding the prevalence of these kinds of fallacies, raises serious questions not only about the scholarly and institutional future of African jurisdictions, but also about what precisely Africans think of themselves in a world that renders them largely invisible for scholarly purposes.

The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol) established a reporting process to monitor compliance. Despite its shortcomings, this process provides an opportunity for states to engage in a frank, constructive and open dialogue with the African Commission on the measures they have adopted to realize women's rights and the challenges they face. The DRC's initial report on implementing the Maputo Protocol provides an opportunity to assess how the country has advanced women's rights. This article notes that the DRC has adopted legislation and policies to comply with some of its obligations under the protocol. However, these have not brought about much transformation in terms of effective enjoyment of rights due to the contested nature of many women's rights and the community's patriarchal mindset. The article argues that states should focus on extra-legal measures that can counteract negative attitudes and beliefs towards women's rights.

Human rights are best protected when they enjoy the binding enforceability of the law. Recognizing the binding status of human rights in national constitutions and legal systems is central to demanding accountability, compelling actions and sanctioning violations. Conferring human rights with legal recognition also empowers people and provides the option of pursuing remedies. Furthermore, the duty of the state to protect and respect human rights is triggered when they receive prescription under the law. In Nigeria, however, certain rights pertaining to economic, social and cultural rights do not receive the binding force of constitutional law. This article argues that the judiciary can act as an alternative and complementary recourse to advance and secure the commitment to the right to health. Drawing on a comparative perspective from countries where the judiciary has proactively upheld this right, it maintains that the Nigerian judiciary can take action to enhance the legal and judicial implementation of the right to health.

This article interrogates the traditional limitations of the concept of bailment at common law. It argues that, although possession is a critical element, in modern commerce, a bailment relationship should be capable of being created without actual physical possession and control, but through constructive possession, which is as effective as physical possession and control. With this adjustment to the interpretation of the element of possession, bailment could then apply to intangible property, such as intellectual property. With the support of evidence from other progressive common law jurisdictions and inroads from the tort of conversion and criminal theft, the article argues that this new bailment jurisprudence is beginning to emerge. It then recommends that, in deserving circumstances, the courts should not hesitate to find that a bailment relationship exists, notwithstanding the absence of physical control and possession, at least pending legislative intervention.

This article contends that the interpretation of article 115 of the Constitution of Kenya as providing for amendatory recommendations as a form of presidential veto to legislative bills is a departure from the common negative veto to bills which was the form envisaged by the drafters of the Constitution. Moreover, it is argued that the interpretation that article 115 of the Constitution allows the president to make positive legislative recommendations which can only be overridden by two-thirds of members of the legislature has transformed the president into the most decisive player in the legislative process in Kenya. The overarching contention of this article is that allowing the president to make positive legislative recommendations that can only be overridden by two-thirds of members of the legislature goes against the goal of tempering presidential powers, which was one of the animating goals that informed the quest for constitutional change in Kenya.

This article examines the infusion of information communication technology (ICT) into Nigeria's new company legislation to promote corporate democracy. While the initiative is laudable, especially in the age of the COVID-19 pandemic, the article argues that the reform is of limited value, as only private companies are empowered to deploy ICT in the conduct of general meetings. By excluding public companies, the article argues, inter alia, that the reform overlooks the role that ICT could play in addressing the assumed passivity of latent, large groups, which typify the shareholders of public companies. In making a case for inclusive reform, the article examines the reforms already undertaken by some countries in the common law jurisdictions, whose templates on the subject may inform the changes Nigeria needs to effect in her law.

Following a public outcry about Eric Aniva being hired to have sex with children, he was arrested, tried and convicted of attempting to engage in a harmful practice and also of engaging in a harmful practice, contrary to Malawi's Gender Equality Act. Aniva's trial attracted significant public attention and highlighted kulowa kufa, the cultural practice at the centre of his trial. This article revisits Aniva's trial. By focusing on the operation of the law in judicial processes as well as the dynamics of judicial decision-making, it demonstrates and concludes that Aniva's trial may have been compromised. Specifically, the article analyses the state's failure to identify and parade material witnesses notwithstanding the alleged multiplicity of Aniva's victims, the role of the media in the trial as well as the probable effects of the trial court's selective recourse to international human rights standards.

The scholarly literature on sentencing reform has largely overlooked the African continent. The paucity of legal scholarship is particularly striking with respect to Tanzania, one of Africa's largest and most populous countries. This article explores the first significant sentencing reform in Tanzania's history. In 2020, the Tanzanian judiciary issued a comprehensive set of sentencing guidelines for courts to follow. Until this point, sentencing was a highly discretionary stage of the criminal process, and the Tanzanian penal code offered very little guidance with respect to the exercise of that discretion. After providing a brief summary of the new sentencing regime, we explore the innovative guidance contained in the reforms. In the conclusion we discuss the extent to which the Tanzanian reforms reflect core African values of Ubuntu, or more specifically in the case of Tanzania, Ujamaa, the philosophy popularized by Tanzania's first president, Julius Nyerere.

Special economic zones (SEZs) can be described as “carved out jurisdictions within the overall jurisdiction of a state in order to introduce different laws and regulations that are usually more trade and investment friendly”. South Africa's SEZs are created under the Special Economic Zones Act 16 of 2014. This article analyses the country's legal framework for SEZs, which legal scholars have thus far only examined from a purely economic perspective. It provides a brief historical overview of industrial development zones, examines the 2014 act and suggests some reforms within the SEZ legislative framework. A comparative analysis is provided by drawing some lessons from BRICS member countries that have a successful record in operationalizing SEZs.

Expert evidence is an increasingly prominent feature of criminal litigation. Confidence in the reliability of such evidence is therefore vital to the integrity of the justice process. Of late, there have been concerns in most jurisdictions that liberal admissibility standards allow expert evidence of doubtful reliability to be admitted by courts, leading to miscarriages of justice. Consequently, most adversarial common law systems now apply reliability standards to the reception of expert evidence. Malawian law makes provision for the admissibility of expert evidence on mere production if the parties to the case consent. This article critically evaluates this position, arguing that it provides no safeguards for assessing the reliability of expert evidence, thereby making the criminal justice system prone to injustices and challenges related to the use of such evidence. It proceeds to consider how the law and the courts can enhance the reliability of expert evidence in criminal proceedings.