Part two...The Waiting Game No One Wants to Play!!

Part two...The Waiting Game No One Wants to Play!!

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Imagine a justice system creating its own internal paralysis. A citizen’s cases were put on hold indefinitely, not due to its merits, but because of a separate legal debate happening elsewhere. This frustrating scenario became a reality when lower courts, following an internal directive, stop active all cases of a certain type to await a future decision.

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The lower courts justified pausing the case by claiming they needed to await a constitutional interpretation from the House of Federation on a separate issue. No court can unilaterally decide to halt all cases of a certain type to await a future decision and its misuse is a direct violation of a citizen’s right to access justice.

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When issue of staying raised in connection with constitutional interpretation, while a constitutional matter is under review, lies exclusively with the House of Federation itself only for the case being reviewed. Even the HF itself has no authority to order stay of proceedings of separate case while reviewing the other case based on similarity of cases of the certain type.

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This clearly stipulated under article-19 of Proclamation to Define the Powers and Functions of the House of Federation Proclamation Number 1261/2013. This provision state that “When the House believes that there will be irreplaceable damage to an applicant requesting Constitutional Interpretation, or there may be other serious compelling reason, the Speaker of the House may order a stay of execution; the Speaker of the House may also talk to the parties before ordering a stay of execution.

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So one can safely say that the Oromia supreme court's circular was not just a procedural misstep.

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Justice is an action to be taken by a judge on a case, not a status to be suspended without lagal base. Access to justice is an active right that cannot be indefinitely deferred by administrative hurdles or procedural confusion. The doors to the court must remain open, and the process must move forward. If not what is the fate of citizens whose rights to justice blocked for separate case??

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