Cagey gov't spends P27 million on private law firms

Shamukuni said he could not openly share the names of the law firms due to issues of client privilege but disclosed that the outsourcing of cases to private law firms started in earnest in April 2020. He said a total of 91 cases were outsourced to law firms in the last five years. Breaking the amount spent according to each year since 2020, Shamukuni said that P2.9 million was spent in 2020 while in 2021 P9.9 million was spent. In 2022, he said government had an expenditure of P4.2 million whereas in 2023 the price rose to P10.6 million. Shamukuni also explained that government continues to turn to private firms for state cases because State prosecutors do not have the capacity to deal with intricate cases.

“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. He added that other factors that compel government to go through the private route include the urgency of the case coupled with the availability of the lawyers to handle the case, years of experience and the area of law involved as well as the expertise required. Since the commencement of using private lawyers, Shamukuni said government has crossed the border on two occasions only for the services of the lawyers. “Only two foreign law firms were engaged in the past five years. Information on how much each law firm was paid is readily available but cannot be openly shared to this House,” he said.

Shamukuni further highlighted outsourcing of private law firms is fairly a new development within the litigation area as such there is no regulatory framework for the services provided by private firms. Shamukuni was responding to a question from the Palapye Member of Parliament (MP), Onneetse Ramogapi, who had asked why Botswana continues to rope in private lawyers for their cases.