Paper short abstract:

By unpacking the complexities of ICT usage at the East African Court of Justice, our paper foregrounds the impact of digital transformation in Africa's international courts as a window into understanding the digitalisation of justice systems in Africa.

Paper long abstract:

ICT use in the judiciary dates back to war crimes tribunals that sprung up after World War II. Nevertheless, the available literature is limited to Euro-American accounts and hardly any African courts. Interestingly, the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) has successfully pioneered the usage of ICT infrastructure to promote the effective administration of justice well before the COVID pandemic. Against this backdrop, the authors draw on their combined research and practitioner expertise to spark dialogue on the role of African courts as sites of digitalisation in a conscious effort to change the narrative around technological advancement in Africa. Moreover, we conducted expert interviews and relied on relevant court documents to systematically assess the courts’ usage of ICT in the administration of regional justice. Given the range of the Court’s users, we aim to unpack the complexities involved in embracing ICT to advance the rule of law in the EAC. Initially, we sketch out the Court’s organisational set-up and composition to situate our study’s relevance. We then consider the evolution of the Court’s ICT infrastructure and ponder what these advances could reveal about its utilisation in regional integration processes in Africa. In sum, we argue that despite funding limitations and a reluctance by some stakeholders to embrace technology, the EACJ is attuned to ICT, and its recent move to hold sessions in another partner state is proof of the Court’s determination to move justice closer to the people.