An Appraisal of Procedural Environmental Rights in Tanzania’s Extractive Sector

by | May 19, 2020 | ANUL, ANUL 2019 I1

An Appraisal of Procedural Environmental Rights in Tanzania’s Extractive Sector

Authors Elifuraha Laltaika

ISSN: 2521-2613 Affiliations: Source: Africa Nazarene University Law Journal, 2019, Issue 1, p. 46 – 63

Abstract

Some laws and policies governing the extraction of minerals, oil and gas in Tanzania offer insufficient protection of substantive human rights. This is partly because the law’s founding objective was not to protect community interests, but rather to expedite foreign direct investment while simultaneously protecting the sanctity of private property as an enabler of respect for transnational contractual obligations. Specifically, the laws in question are emblematic of the broader ‘neo-liberal law and development thought’, characterised by the primacy of the market in human relations. Yet extractive operations put resources on which local communities depend, such as drinking water, forests and biodiversity, at risk. This article investigates whether, by using procedural environmental rights, aggrieved communities and individuals in the country can successfully challenge potentially human rights-abridging and environmental protection-blind decisions through available avenues in the country’s justice system. One of the article’s key points is that by becoming one of the first African countries, and so far the only one in East Africa, to subscribe to extractive industries’ transparency initiative (EITI), and by enacting a law to operationalise EITI principles, Tanzania exhibits unwavering commitment to bringing new dynamics to the extractive sector. However, by disallowing environmental considerations and community consultation requirements from forming part of the conditions for granting resource extraction licence, participation is reduced to a mere technical enterprise or ‘box-checking’.

Public Participation and the Right to Development in Kenya

by | May 19, 2020 | ANUL, ANUL 2019 I1

Public Participation and the Right to Development in Kenya

Authors Anthony Wambugu Munene

ISSN: 2521-2613 Affiliations: Source: Africa Nazarene University Law Journal, 2019, Issue 1, p. 64 – 85

Abstract

The principle of public participation has for a long time been an important feature of human rights law especially with regard to the right to development. This principle has been significant in giving meaning to international human rights instruments and has been a constant theme in many declarations, recommendations and resolutions of the United Nations. At the African regional level, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights have both highlighted the central role that participation of the beneficiaries in their development plays in the implementation of the right to development. Under the Constitution of Kenya 2010, the general rules of international law and treaties and conventions that Kenya has ratified form part of the law of Kenya. The Bill of Rights in the Constitution sets out several fundamental rights and freedoms with the caveat that it does not exclude other rights and fundamental freedoms not included in it but which are recognised and conferred by law, such as the right to development. This means that the right to development, as provided for in the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, is a fundamental right known to Kenyan law and enforceable as such. The Constitution further sets out participation of the people as one of the national values and principles of governance in Kenya. This contribution explores the law, policies and practices on public participation as an enabling principle in implementation of the right to development in Kenya.

‘Great Expectations’: The National Industrial Court and its Prospects of Furthering Social Rights in Nigeria

by | May 19, 2020 | ANUL, ANUL 2019 I1

‘Great Expectations’: The National Industrial Court and its Prospects of Furthering Social Rights in Nigeria

Authors Nsongurua Udombana & Ngozi Udombana

ISSN: 2521-2613 Affiliations: Source: Africa Nazarene University Law Journal, 2019, Issue 1, p. 86 – 114

Abstract

The Nigeria Constitution 1999 makes the application of treaties contingent on their domestic transformation through a legislative enactment. This requirement, coupled with the question of justiciability, poses challenges to the judicial interpretation and application of economic and social rights, in particular. A recent amendment to the Constitution permits the National Industrial Court (NIC) to interpret and apply labour rights guaranteed in treaties, though they may not have been transformed into municipal law. Working on the premise that courts have a critical role to play in realising social rights, we argue that this development gives the NIC a rare opportunity to advance social rights. We call on NIC judges to boldly deploy their enhanced mandate to interpret the relevant labour-related treaties in ways that advance social rights in Nigeria.

The Dilemma of Electricity Pricing and Cost Recovery in Nigeria: Repositioning the Law to Balance the Interests of Investors and Consumers

by | May 19, 2020 | ANUL, ANUL 2019 I1

The Dilemma of Electricity Pricing and Cost Recovery in Nigeria: Repositioning the Law to Balance the Interests of Investors and Consumers

Authors Uzezi Okpoudhu, Dr Peter Kayode Oniemola & Dr Eddy Lenusira Wifa

ISSN: 2521-2613
Affiliations:
Source: Africa Nazarene University Law Journal, 2019, Issue 1, p. 115 – 137

Abstract

The Nigerian electricity sector has been privatised and is transitioning in a competitive market. The law requires that tariffs should be cost reflective, attractive to investors and affordable to consumers. The challenges of balancing the interests of investors and those of consumers have been a bane to the development of a competitive electricity market. The progress made in the African countries of Tanzania and Kenya is commendable. This article analyses the conflicting interests, and offers solutions on how the law could be employed to balance the interests of investors and consumers in the Nigerian electricity market.

The turquand rule in South African company law: a(nother) suggested solution

The turquand rule in South African company law: a(nother) suggested solution

by | May 12, 2020 | JCCL, JCCL V5 I2

The turquand rule in South African company law: a(nother) suggested solution

Author: Etienne Aubrey Olivier

ISSN: 2521-2575
Affiliations: LLD candidate, University of the Western Cape
Source: Journal of Corporate and Commercial Law & Practice, Volume 5 Issue 2, 2019, p. 1 – 28

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Olivier, EA
The turquand rule in South African company law: a(nother) suggested solution
Journal of Corporate and Commercial Law & Practice, Volume 5 Issue 2, 2019, p. 1 – 28

Abstract

The common-law Turquand rule in South African law protects persons from being affected by a company’s non-compliance with an internal formality pertaining to the authority of its representatives. The Turquand rule should not be regarded as an independent rule of South African company law, but as part of the law of agency, particularly the principles of agency by estoppel. Section 20(7) of the Companies Act 71 of 2008 attempts to protect bona fide third parties dealing with companies. However, this section is likely to create uncertainty as it fails to clarify its impact on other provisions in the Act that prescribe requirements for company decisions. It is argued that s 20(7) of the Act is unnecessary and potentially dangerous, and should be repealed.