Legal Aid may trim staff

The Legal Aid Bureau (LAB) may be forced to trim staff following Parliament’s allocation of K164 million to the institution for personal emoluments in the 2015/2016 National Budget, Weekend Nation has learnt.

We have further established that a combination of lack of fuel and running vehicles has forced lawyers at its Lilongwe office to use public transport to attend court sessions since early June.

The situation has been so dire that since March, newly appointed director and deputy director have been hiring cars at a total monthly cost of K1.8 million because the government has been slow in providing them with vehicles.

The situation at the bureau has drawn condemnation from Parliament and the Malawi Law Society (MLS), who have accused President Peter Mutharika of paying lip service to the plight of the poor seeking justice.

LAB director Masauko Chamkakala confirmed the developments, but said the decision to hire private cars came after observing that the bureau is unable to give them cars for official use.

Chamkakakala revealed that the bureau is struggling to provide most of the office’s basic needs.

He said they are still operating as a department, with funding from the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs but they had not received their June allocation.

But in a phone interview last week, the ministry spokesperson Apoche Itimu refused to give details on expenditure at the bureau, saying LAB was an independent entity and is doing its activities separately.

Previously known as the Department of Legal Aid, it became a bureau after the 2014/2015 financial year had already passed and the hiring of the director and the deputy in March 2015 worsened its financial situation.

Chamkakala said since their appointments, they had been using personal vehicles until they decided to hire cars.

We have also established that for the past four months, apart from failing to pay some of the benefits for the two such as fuel, airtime and Internet, the bureau has failed to pay their salaries.

In the 2014/2015 national budget, LAB was allocated K100 million for ORTs and in the 2015/2016 national budget there is K164 million.

“We have tried to ask donors, who were in the forefront to turn our office into a bureau, to assist us so that we do not accumulate more arrears, but they have plainly told us that they support projects, not meet service costs,” said Chamkakala.

Treasury spokesperson Nations Msowoya has warned the bureau against accumulating arrears without the Treasury’s approval.

“LAB is a self-governing entity and so has the powers to make decisions. They are also allowed to hire cars depending on situations, but there are conditions which are supposed to be followed such as the grade of the person and the type of the car to hire. Again, there should be competition when identifying the winner of the bid. But all this should be done in line with provisions,” warned Msowoya.

But chairperson of the Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament, Peter Chakwantha, described the situation at LAB as pathetic and unjustifiable.

“If your findings are anything to go by, then it is sad to Malawi, being a country that respects the rule of law,” said Chakwantha.

He said government has the capacity to improve things at LAB and what is happening is a demonstration that it does not care about the poor Malawians who rely on the office for justice.

MLS secretary Khumbo Soko also lamented the situation at LAB as an affront to the many poor Malawians who rely on it to access justice. n