This may not be a topic of debate but all we need is to look into the provisions of the law and find out where the standing could be.
The Osborn’s Concise Law Dictionary defines an appeal as any proceedings taken to rectify an erroneous decision of a court or tribunal by bringing it before a higher court.
The same defines a right as an interest recognized and protected by the law. The only rights of appeal are those that are expressly provided for by the statute. Therefore such a right isn’t one that can be inferred but must be provided for by the law.
Odoki CJ (As he was then) put this clearly well in Baku Raphael Obudra & Another v Attorney General, Constitutional Appeal No 1/2005 when he said, “It’s is trite law that there is no such thing as inherent appellate jurisdiction. Appellate jurisdiction must be specifically created by law. It cannot be inferred or implied”.
“Its is trite law that there is no such thing as inherent appellant jurisdiction. Appellant jurisdiction must be specifically created by law. It cannot be inferred or implied”
odoki cj
The rightful way to put it out is that appeals or the right to appeal is a creature of the statute.
There a various cases that have clearly put this out, where appeals have been denied on grounds of lack of jurisdiction to entertain appeals.
Labour Disputes. It’s now clear that the Court of Appeal is the final appellate court when handling such labour disputes and according to Sect. 22 of the Labour Disputes (Arbitration and Settlement) Act appeals can only lie on a point of law or on a matter of determining whether the Industrial court had jurisdiction over the matter. An appeal cannot lie on any matter other than this which makes it clear that an appeal is only a creature of a statute. Relying on the above provision, the Supreme Court in DFCU Bank Limited v Donna Kamuli Supreme Court Civil Application No. 29/2019 held that the statute does not specifically provide appellate jurisdiction to the Supreme Court from the decision of the Court of Appeal in exercise of its appellate jurisdiction in matters arising from the Industrial Court he there’s no such right to appeal.
Parliamentary Election Petitions. Where a candidate has lost a parliamentary election or actually a dissatisfied voter who has 500 signatures of other voters in the constituency, they could petition the High Court pursuant to Sect. 60(1) of the Parliamentary Elections Act, 2005. The right to appeal the decision of the High Court is provided to the aggrieved person under Sect 66(1) of the Parliamentary Elections Act, 2005 where such appeal is made to the Court of Appeal. According to the 2010 amendment of this act, the decision of the Court of Appeal is regard to Parliamentary Election petitions is final which makes it the final appellate court. It’s now clear that the right to appeal a decision of the Court of Appeal in a parliamentary election petition to the Supreme Court does not exist.
The above discussed are some of the circumstances where the law doesn’t provide for a right to appeal hence reaffirming the fact that a right to appeal is not inherent but rather a creature of the statute.
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Joel Peter Namugera
THE LEGAL NOTCH 