THE EAST AFRICAN ASSOCIATION OF PROSECUTORS WAS LAUNCHED IN FEBRUARY 2010

BY MICHAEL WAMASEBU – Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Uganda was privileged to host the inaugural meeting of the Association of East African prosecutors in Kampala from 3rd to 5th February 2010. Delegates to the meeting were from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. Except for Burundi, the country delegations were led by the Chief Executives of the respective prosecution authorities. The Director Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mr Richard Butera was the host. Other chief executives included Martin Ngoga (Rwanda), Keriako Tobiko (Kenya), Elieza Feleshi (Tanzania), while Burundi was represented by Arcade Niyongabo (Deputy Prosecutor General). The meeting was held at Grand Imperial hotel in Kampala with two sessions of the meeting of the Task Force of technical officials from the member countries. The Task Force chaired by Winnie Korosso, the Deputy DPP Tanzania was tasked to fine tune the draft constitution of the East African Association of prosecutors and to make recommendations for amendment and adoption of the document by the plenary. The task force had strong representation from each of the five member countries. After heated and involved discussions, the Task Force made a wide range of revisions and changes to the original draft constitution. These were in turn reviewed by the plenary and approved hence giving birth to the constitution of the East African Association of Prosecutors. A SNAPSHOT OF THE EAAP CONSTITUTION The mission of the Association is “An enhanced regional cooperation in preventing and combating crime.” OBJECTIVES: The constitution spells out the objectives of EAAP. These are to: Promote and facilitate cooperation among the prosecuting authorities of the EAC partner states in order to ensure effective measures and actions are taken to prevent , detect, investigate and prosecute crime in the region; Afford member prosecuting authorities mutual legal assistance, exchange of suspects and convicted prisoners, extraditions and other forms of cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of crime; Cooperate in matters of victim and witness care protection, asset forfeiture and recovery of instrumentalities and proceeds of crimes; Conduct joint training and capacity building for officials of member countries. ORGANS OF THE EAAP These are: The General Meeting The Executive Committee The Presidency The Secretariat COMPOSITION OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE President Vice President General Secretary Treasurer General Counsel 5 Committee members, one from each member country. After approving the constitution of the EAAP, the Kampala meeting also transacted other important business which included election of office bearers. Mr Richard Buteera was elected by acclamation to the position of the President of EAAP. Other officials elected were: Martin Ngoga – Vice President, Keriako Tobiko – General Sectretary, Elieza Mbuki Feleshi – General Counsel and Elysee Ndaye – Treasurer. COMMITTEE MEMBERS The following officials were elected as Committee Members: Betty Khisa – Uganda Atukunda Linda Grace – Rwanda Winifrida Korosso – Tanzania Liboire Nkurunziza – Burundi Alice Ondieki – Kenya The official conference proceedings ended on the afternoon of February 4th 2010 with the signature and promulgation of the constitution. The chiefs of prosecution services in the region issued a press release and press briefing. They expressed optimism that the newly formed East African Association of prosecutors would herald a new chapter in the fight against transnational crime in East Africa. They re-affirmed the determination of the association in working together to improve technical and logistical capacity of the officers in the member countries prosecution authorities to better prepare them to tackle the increasing sophistication of criminals in the region.