Details have emerged that most government lawyers under the Ministry of Justice have stopped going to court for cases because their employer has not paid practising licence fees to Malawi Law Society (MLS) although the Treasury already disbursed the funds.
The development has a great impact on progress of cases that are being handled by the lawyers.
Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) has described the development as unfortunate and condemned the ministry for frustrating justice instead of promoting it.
According to State lawyers who opted for anonymity, a number of lawyers have opted to pay the fees by themselves so that some important cases can keep running in the courts.
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They say, by law, the responsibility for paying State lawyers’ licence fees lies with government.
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“We don’t know where the whole idea that government lawyers should pay comes from. While it makes sense that we should be admitted to practice, it defies logic that we should be paying licence fees to MLS and risk being stopped from practising if we don’t pay the fees. It defies the whole essence of public service,” one State lawyer said.
According to the lawyer, all legal practitioners are supposed to pay K475,000 to MLS annually, out of which K375,000 is for the licence itself while K100,000 is a contribution towards building offices.
In an interview, Secretary to the Treasury Betchani Tchereni said the role of the Treasury is to disburse funds to ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and that the Treasury already disbursed the funds to the Ministry of Justice.
“As Treasury, our role is to release funds to MDAs, whether monthly or quarterly, for their operations. But it all lies in the hands of the MDAs to prioritise which activities they will use the funding for.
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“As the Treasury, it is not our duty to impose on MDAs what activities they should use the funding for,” Tchereni said.
In an interview Tuesday, Solicitor General Allison M’bang’ombe confirmed owing MLS, mostly on Continuous Professional Development fees—which is a pre-requisite for issuance of licences to lawyers.
He said it is true that the Treasury disbursed the funds and that that was done towards the end of the last financial year.
“As a result, we are facing problems in processing the payments since the funding relates to the previous financial year. We have engaged the Accountant General and [officials there] are very much understanding and helpful. We will resolve it soon,” M’bang’ombe said.
However, CHRR Executive Director Michael Kaiyatsa said the ministry is not serious on the issue of providing a conducive environment for the delivery of justice.
“This is a very sad development, especially coming at a time when many people are complaining that cases are dragging in the courts.
“One may conclude that the ministry’s failure to pay the fees is one of the factors contributing to the delays. The Ministry of Justice should be facilitating justice rather than frustrating it,” Kaiyatsa said.
When asked to give the number of lawyers under the government who have not been issued with licences and how much is at stake, MLS President Patrick Mpaka said he needed to cross-check facts.
“I will need to check the status of affairs. You can also check with the ministry, [in terms of] how many of their lawyers have received licences. I think it is best that they speak for themselves,” Mpaka said.
The ministry did not give such details.
Recently, the Ministry of Justice told members of the Parliamentary Cluster on Legal Affairs and Government Assurances and Public Sector Reforms that it is failing to retain experienced lawyers due to poor salaries.
