On 18-19 July 2022, in Nairobi, Kenya, the CEELI Institute organized the fourth roundtable session for member judges of the African Judicial Network (AJN). The Network, which was set up in late 2021, aims to provide a platform for judges from anglophone African common-law countries to share knowledge and experiences on challenges in their daily work. The roundtable brought together thirty-two judges from Botswana, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, who, over the course of two days, discussed good practices on issues of judicial independence, combatting corruption, and performance evaluation and management. The roundtable session included a number of presentations by faculty from the Czech Republic, The Gambia, Kenya, Poland, and the United States, as well as rich discussions among participants. This meeting also supported the further development and expansion of the AJN by adding new members, and enhanced the cooperation and exchange of experience between judiciaries of the participating countries.
The African Judicial Network is driven by a Core Group currently consisting of eight Network judges. On 20 July, following the roundtable, the Core Group held its first meeting. During this meeting, the members discussed their visions of the tasks and responsibilities of the group, as well as projects they would like to take on in the future, such as the drafting of fact sheets and guideline documents for judges of the AJN. Another topic of discussion was how to further enhance cooperation among their judiciaries. These discussions led to the drafting of a charter for the AJN.
The AJN Core Group had its second meeting on 13-14 September in Prague and online. The group finalized the charter, discussed future AJN events, and decided on a topic for their next project.
