05 Feb 2015

The Attorney General, Dr Athaliah Molokomme, says her office has completed the design and development of a framework for outsourcing of legal services for the government.

Speaking at official opening of the 2015 legal year in Gaborone on February 3, Dr Molokomme said they were expecting the framework to be endorsed by their stakeholders for implementation in the 2015/16 financial year.

She noted that the reform was necessitated by the realisation of the need for continuing improvement of the legal system, noting that as the principal legal advisor to the government, it follows that any request to outsource legal services for government must take place through the Attorney General’s Chambers.

Dr Molokomme said whilst the AGC generally has the requisite capacity to provide basic legal services to government, it was nevertheless under increasing pressure to discharge its mandate within resource constraints. 

Specifically, she noted, AGC has insufficient senior lawyers equipped with expertise to meet all the demands it is obliged to service.

Hence, she said, she has for some time been exploring the manner in which her office can systematically procure services from private legal practitioners who are experienced in certain particular practice areas, in the normal course, and not only in emergencies.

“I have for some time been aware of perception in some quarters of selectivity in so far as the outsourcing of legal and or consultancy services from private legal firms is concerned. 

There is no substance in any such perception, which may arise from the inability by some to appreciate that conventional procurement by public tender often, fails to meet the requirements of the government law firm”, she said.

The second development approved recently is the Doing Business Reform Roadmap for Botswana, which contains a section on the enforcement of contracts, an area where Botswana has been found wanting.

 Specific areas of relevance to the Administration of Justice covered in the recommendations are deadlines for court procedures, specialised judges for commercial disputes and the introduction of computerised case management systems, she said.

Meanwhile when responding to the Chief Justice remarks over some delays in implementation of projects, Dr Molokomme said the delays in the implementation of development projects in the Administration of Justice, was a trend that had been observed in other projects countrywide. 

She however said the matter was being attended to at the highest levels, and it would require a collaboration and better communication between stakeholders, including judiciary to resolve it.

She however said she was pleased to hear that the Judicial Case management (JCM) was producing the desired results at the High Court, and that the case backlogs were a thing of the past.

Dr Molokomme however said she was looking forward to the time when JCM has the same positive effect on disposal rates at the magistrates’ courts, especially in Gaborone, where challenges remain.

Regarding special corruption court she said they are working with the parent ministry and the Directorate of Public Service Management (DPSM) to increase the staff complement in the corruption unit of DPP and the DPP generally, to enable the expeditious disposal of criminal cases at this court. T

his court has registered 23 cases and has dispose only two so far.

She meanwhile defended prosecutors for their postponement of cases at the corruption court noting that these were not so many as to be a cause for alarm.

Reasons for postponement include the location of witnesses who are not resident in Botswana, the non-appearance of accused who had not been served with notices of hearing, to enable the accused to secure the services of an attorney and to allow the parties to meet pursuant to Order 68 of the Rules of the High Court and comply with the Order.

Other reasons are t allow the Registrar to cause the record of proceedings to be served on all the parties, as well as to enable the Registrar to appoint pro deo counsel for the accused. Dr Molokomme therefore said the reasons for postponement were many and varied and as such postponements were not always at the behest of the DPP.  ENDS