Thu, 06 Apr 2017 10:05:31 +0000
By CHIKUMBI KATEBE
THE Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) must not split into two associations and should not hike legal fees as it will turn itself into an elitist organisation, Rainbow Party president Wynter Kabimba has charged.
Mr Kabimba said the new legal fees deprived poor people access to justice as they were too high for ordinary people to afford, hence making legal representation a preserve for the rich.
He further said that there was no need for lawyers in the country to form another association parallel to the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) as that would make it difficult to discipline lawyers in the country.
Mr Kabimba, who is a lawyer by profession, said he disagreed with the recently revised legal fees because they were too high and a hindrance to accessing justice.
He said that he stood for the principle that the poor must have a fundamental right to justice and that he did not want to belong to the LAZ that did not advocate for that cause.
Meanwhile, Convener of the LAZ remuneration committee, Michael Mundashi SC in a letter to the Association members explained that the Statutory Instrument No.6 and 7 of 2017 had omitted information to clarify on whether the new fees were expressed in Kwacha or units.
Before the SI were amended, a State Counsel could charge about K700 per hour but that they would now be charging K2, 035 per hour.
This more than 200 percent upward adjustment in legal fees has caused an uproar with many stakeholders condemning the LAZ for the hike.
“Legal fees must not be an obstacle to justice. So, my view is that LAZ must not turn itself into an elitist organisation which is sitting separate from the people.
“That is not the LAZ I want to belong to. I want to belong to the Law Association of Zambia that has at heart the problems of the poor. So, I disagree,” Mr Kabimba said.
“Having another lawyer Association in the country will only polarize the legal profession in the country and we are going to have a lot of quack lawyers walking the streets.”
Mr Kabimba was responding to a question on the recently announced hiked legal fees as prescribed in Statutory Instrument No 6 and 7 of 2017 and whether calls for the formation of another lawyer association were justified.
