Lawyers welcome AG’s Office decentralisation

DECENTRALISING the Attorney General’s Office was long overdue and lawyers welcomed the development, saying it advances the Government devolution agenda, taking the office to the people.

The Government announced Wednesday that the AG’s office is at an advanced stage of full operationalisation through the setting up of offices in and outside Harare to facilitate access to legal services for all.

This followed the recent approval of the new structure by President Mnangagwa.

In an interview yesterday, Law Society of Zimbabwe president Ms Tambudzai Matambo welcomed the developments.

She said the AG’s office had become quite seriously incapacitated to the detriment of the Government, which relies on the office as legal adviser and the public at large. “The proposal to set up offices in and out of Harare will facilitate access to justice and promote the devolution agenda,” she said. “As a profession we also welcome the plan to fill vacant posts as this also provides employment opportunities for our members.”

Ms Matambo urged the AG’s office to fast-track the ongoing changes.

Veteran lawyer Mr Obert Gutu said the AG’s office was a critical establishment in the governance structure of Zimbabwe.

The AG, as the Government of Zimbabwe’s chief legal advisor occupies a very important office that is literally the State’s number one lawyer, structuring, scrutinising and designing all bilateral and multi-lateral legal agreements that involve the State.

“As and when necessary, the AG is also constitutionally mandated to represent the State in regional and international courts of justice,” he said.

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