Lawyers upset over K5m bill
WE are concerned with the attitude of the current crop of the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) executive, which has cost the association K5, 000,000 in legal costs, says Lusaka-based senior constitutional lawyer Hobday Kabwe.
In an interview in Lusaka yesterday, Mr. Kabwe said the K5m legal bill slapped on LAZ could have been avoided had the executive listened to individual members’ concerns over the approach LAZ had taken towards legal battles, especially those political in nature.
Mr. Kabwe was commenting on the K5m demand made by four political parties against LAZ after Constitutional Court Judge Professor Margaret Munalula dismissed with costs its application to join President Lungu’s eligibility case.
The political parties are Christian Democratic Party, New Congress Party, Zambia Republican Party, and Citizens Democratic Party.
They have applied to the Constitutional Court to determine if Mr. Lungu will be eligible to stand in the 2021 Presidential elections and LAZ’s attempt to join the case flopped following Justice Munalula’s decision to dismiss its application with costs. “It is not a good idea to just join each and every legal battle as long as it appears to please some political players whom they have been associated with, and as long as it appears to be against the current Head of State President Edgar Lungu.
“As long as it is on those two grounds, they are just joining without even considering that with some of these things, it is not about just joining on that account, but on whether or not there are merits in that cause. This is one of the causes I do not think there was merit to join,” Mr. Kabwe said.
He added: “This is the kind of line we are saying is really political. You do not have to join each and every case to the extent that LAZ has started to appear like a family law firm. This is the kind of thing which is repeating itself and I hope someone has learnt a lesson. This is one of the reasons we are agitating for certain things like considering other societies of lawyers.
“Now we have to bear the burden of paying those costs arising from the wrong approach to certain issues by someone in the executive. This is unacceptable.”
However, LAZ president Linda Kasonde maintained yesterday in an interview with the Daily Nation that the association would respond in due course to the demand.