Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo says his Ministry is in direct talks with Treasury aiming at improving welfare of legal counsels working in government institutions.  

The development follows concerns raised by Members of Parliament that welfare of lawyers working in government institutions leaves a lot to be desired.

But speaking to Yoneco FM Online upon presenting a ministerial statement on initiatives being implemented by the justice ministry, Mvalo said government is aware of the matter citing that it is already under discussion.

He said: “That matter is already under consideration and right now we are making progress as we are discussing with ministry of finance to see if they can increase funding that would help to improve the salaries and other incentives of the lawyers.”

“We are also working on their [lawyers] in terms of what should happen to their housing and availability of transport for official vehicles that they can use to go to work and home.”

Mvalo added that his ministry is also carrying out a number of initiatives all aiming at modernising the judiciary and uphold the rule of law.

“We have done a Bill on creation Companies and Intellectual Property Office (COIPO) and what we are proposing there is to create an office that would have a government agency which semi-autonomous to handle issues of intellectual property,” he said.

“The major reasons are to uphold the rule of law and also to make access to justice easier for our people and also to modernise our judiciary.”