| dc.description.abstract | This case commentary uses the in-depth case study and thick-description approach to
analyze and comment on two important cases from the East Africa Court Justice (EACJ)
and the OHADA Common Court of Justice and Arbitration (OHADA CCJA). The cases
are the British American Tobacco v Attorney General of Uganda (EACJ), 2019 (BAT
case) and GETMA International v The Republic of Guinea (OHADA CCJA arbitral
award), 2014 (GETMA case). The BAT case is the first case decided by the EACJ on a
purely international trade and commercial law subject matter. This is significant since
the EACJ’s docket has since its first decision in 2006 been dominated mainly by human
rights, rule of law, opposition politics, and employment cases. The GETMA case on the
other hand is renowned because of the action of the arbitrators in the OHADA CCJA
arbitration to request a significant increase in their arbitration fees over the amount set
under the OHADA arbitration rules. Outside of this controversial issue in the GETMA
case, this commentary delves deep into the other accompanying cases involving the same
parties in International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and
the enforcement proceedings in the US Federal Court in DC. The two cases thus present
many lessons for future litigants, stakeholders, commentators, academics, and students in
the East African regional integration process and in OHADA harmonization of business
laws and arbitration. | en_US |
