Court reduces monetary reward to former EALA speaker Margaret Zziwa

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The East African Court of Justice has revised the compensation award to the former Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly Margaret Zziwa from USD 359,376 (1.3 billion Shillings) to USD 175,000 (649 million Shillings)

The decision was based on an application filed by the Secretary General of the East African Legislative Assembly challenging the taxation ruling made by the Appellate Division of the same court on June 4, 2019. In the ruling, Margaret Zziwa was awarded a compensation for instruction fees amounting to USD 114,000 (423 million Shillings) with interest at six percent per annum and VAT calculated from 24 February 2015.

This was a result of Zziwa’s removal from the Office of the Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) which the Court averred was an infringement of the Treaty for the Establishment of the East African Community. Zziwa was impeached in December 2014 on allegations of misconduct, abuse of office and being disrespectful to the members.

But the Secretary-General challenged the decision saying that according to the taxing officer’s awarding instruction, the fees, coupled with Value-Added Taxes of 18 percent of instruction fees and getting up fees being a quarter of the instruction fees culminated in a tax bill of USD 359,376.99 (1.3 billion Shillings).

The Secretary-General argued that the taxing officer took into account irrelevant matters and did not properly abide with the legal principles in reaching his decision. He added that there were also mathematical miscalculations in the summation of the awards that are prejudicial to the office of the Secretary-General.

The secretary asked that the bill should be set aside for a more reasonable and less award. Court presided over by Justice Faustin Ntezilyayo granted the application and awarded her a sum of USD 140,000 (519 million Shillings) plus getting up fees of a quarter being USD 35,000 (130 million Shillings), giving her a total award of USD 175,000 (649 million Shillings), according to a decision of the court endorsed by three judges.

“Consequently, taking all the foregoing into consideration and guided by the order of the appellate division for a certificate of costs for the two counsel, we would allow instruction fees of USD 140,000 for both counsels. To that, we add getting up fees of ¼ of the instruction fees,” the judgement read.

It was signed by the former principal judge of the East African Court of Justice Dr Faustin Ntezilyayo, Dr Charles Nyawello and Justice Charles Nyachae. Although Justice Ntezilyayo resigned from the East African Court of Justice in February 2020, he signed the ruling in terms of article 25 (3) of the East African Treaty. The article allows retired members of the jury to continue sitting as a judge for the purposes of completing a matter which has been argued before the Court of which he or she was a member.

Zziwa had initially asked the court to award her special damages in the form of loss of earnings of a salary of USD 6,700 (25 million Shillings) per month and housing allowance of USD 3,000 (11 million Shillings) per month plus other allowances and financial benefits.

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