The Law Society of Botswana recently complained of opacity in contracting private lawyers for government legal work if the system should not continue to benefit a select few
TEFO PHEAGE
The government is reviewing outsourcing of legal work by the Directorate of Intelligence and Security Service (DISS) and other government agencies to ensure greater transparency and fairness in government legal contracts, the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Nelson Ramaotwana, has said.
This follows concerns raised by the Law Society of Botswana (LSB) at the Opening of the Legal Year recently over the opaque manner in which DISS awards legal contracts.
Urgent need for reform
LSB went further and called for greater accountability in the allocation of legal work within state institutions, arguing that the current process unfairly benefits a select few.
“We have noted the concerns, and this is a matter that the Attorney General is seized with,” the Minister said. “We will provide guidance once that process has been completed.”
Lacking transparency
In his speech at the Opening of the Legal Year, the Chairman of LSB, Lesedi Moahi, emphasised the urgent need for reform.
“To redress the lack of transparency, accountability and fairness in the outsourcing of legal work by the Attorney General and other government departments, especially DISS, we must confront the prevailing practice that disproportionately benefits a few at the expense of the general membership of the LSB,” he said.
He acknowledged that Minister Ramaotwana had engaged with the LSB twice since taking office to discuss these concerns.
Govt expenditure
However, he stressed that dialogue alone was not sufficient and called for meaningful action to address the issues at hand.
The concerns about transparency in legal outsourcing come against the backdrop of significant government expenditure on private legal services.
Last year, then Minister of Justice Machana Shamukuni revealed that over the previous five years, the government had spent more than P27 million in outsourcing legal cases to private law firms.
Shamukuni stated that while he could not disclose the names of the law firms due to client privilege, the outsourcing of cases had gained momentum since April 2020.
He provided a breakdown of the expenditures, indicating that P2.9 million was spent in 2020, P9.9 million in 2021, P4.2 million in 2022, and P10.6 million in 2023.
Complexity of cases
According to Shamukuni, the government turned to private law firms due to the complexity of certain cases that state prosecutors may lack the capacity to handle.
“The procedure is that when it is determined that a case is complex and requires the services of an experienced lawyer, a formal request with justification is made to the Attorney General through the head of division,” he said.