.MUSA MWENYA

By PERPETUAL SICHIKWENKWE –

ATTORNEY General Musa Mwenye says there is an increase in the number of criminal activities among lawyers in the country.
Mr Mwenye said there were too many complaints of misappropriation of client’s funds and that it was a notorious fact that there was rampant abuse of clients’ accounts among some practitioners.
He said in some cases, legal practitioners were drawing money straight from clients’ accounts resulting in evading tax and failing to remit value added tax which they collected from unsuspecting clients.
Mr Mwenye was speaking when he officially launched the first ever Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) strategic plan for 2014-2018 at Pamodzi Hotel on Thursday night.
“Let me put my head on the chopping board and acknowledge that we  as members of the legal profession  must now also take courage and accept that not  all is well within our ranks as lawyers. There are far too many complaints of misappropriation of clients’ funds.
“This is theft.  This is criminality and as a profession, we must work hard to preserve the integrity of the profession which is being tarnished by these less than noble of activities conducted by some legal practitioners who I would describe articulately as criminals in robes,” he said.
Mr Mwenye said that a strategic plan was critical to the success of any organisation because it facilitated planning and the more effective use of resources at the disposal of the organisation.
He said a strategic plan was necessary to facilitate the transformation and modernisation of the association so that it could better sell the modern needs of the legal profession and members of the public who were users of legal services.
Mr Mwenye said the actions outlined in the plan would set a motion and certainly demonstrate the will and determination of LAZ to enhance the profession and also to ensure that the rule of law was upheld in Zambia.
He said LAZ had continued to play a critical role in the governance of the country and Government was happy to partner with it on pertinent issues.
He said it was high time that LAZ started documenting statistics on the contributions of members of the profession to the national economic because the legal profession was also a business.
Mr Mwenye said, “legal practitioners provide employment and certainly those who are law abiding contribute to the tax revenue of this country. We must as an association start highlighting the economic
contribution that the profession makes in this country”.
He said law firms in the country provided employment to a number of people and also remitted various taxes to the national treasury.
LAZ president George Chisenga called on all lawyers to take a leading role in ensuring that they adhered to the strategic plan.
Mr Chisenga said that the objective of the plan could not be achieved without lawyers owning the process.
Acting Chief Justice Lombe Chibesakunda, Inspector General of Police Stella Libongani and Human Rights Commissioner Pixie Yangailo also attended the launch.