Sovereignty and Statehood of Zanzibar in the Union

Abstract

In this paper, I have adopted a hard law, albeit, jurisprudential approach to make a critique of this very important decision made by the Court of Appeal touching on central constitutional issues pertaining to the Union. The case involved some 18 members of the opposition party, Civic United Front (CUF). The alleged offence, according to the charge sheet, was committed between 28th October 1995 and 29th November 1997. Sometime in 1999, the preliminary inquiry, as the law requires, was completed before a resident magistrate which committed the accused for a trial before the High Court of Zanzibar. The decision in this appeal arose from the ruling of the High Court of Zanzibar on a number of preliminary issues raised by the defense. The major constitutional objection was that the offence of treason could not be committed against the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar because Zanzibar was neither a state nor sovereign.