2. STAFF ON STRENGTH

1. Current Position
   

   There are 3 sections in the Office, each of which is headed by a Deputy State Solicitor. They are the Common Law/General Advisings, Commercial Law and International Law sections. The total staff strength under the current establishment register is 46 which comprises 36 legal officer positions including the State Solicitor and the three (3) deputies. There are 10 non-legal officer positions which include seven (7) legal secretaries, one (1) administrative officer and two (2) driver positions. Late last year a decision was made to have nine (9) legal officer positions that were previously unfunded, to have funding this year. Whether this has occurred will need to be confirmed by the Human Resources Branch.

   In the past, the State Solicitor’s Branch has had lawyers in excess of 40. These have been reduced due to separation of the Solicitor General’s Office (previously the Property and Civil Litigation sections) from the State Solicitor’s Office and subsequent restructure exercises that have been carried out by the Department over the years, the most recent being in 2009.

   The Department’s Corporate Plan, having been launched, together with improved work attitudes by new officers who have been appointed to key positions in the Branch, has seen an improvement in the work output of the Office. The Department is currently in the process of recruiting new lawyers and once this is completed the addition of new lawyers will greatly assist in terms of effective attendance to the work load of the Office.

   The current total staff strength is 24 of which 19 are legal officers including the State Solicitor. It is hoped that the full complement of the 36 legal officer positions (hopefully with funding being made available for the previously unfunded positions) will be achieved later this year with further recruitment being planned to commence soon.

3. COMMERCIAL DIVISION

The Commercial Section of the State Solicitor’s Office provides legal assistance in relation to all legal issues arising from all Government Commercial transactions. Such assistance ranges from providing general legal advice on specific legal issues put to the office by our client departments and State agencies participating in Project and Loan Negotiations, and at times the Section assists in the Alternative Dispute Resolutions (ADR) arising from interpretation and construction of the Agreements.

The primary functions of the section can be categorized into five different areas, Mining and Petroleum, Infrastructure Projects, Non Mining, Investment projects, Loans Grant Aid/Finance Assistance, and General Commercial advice.

The section is currently headed by a Deputy State Solicitor who is greatly assisted by two principal legal officer’s one senior legal officer and two legal officers and a legal secretary. In total therefore the section currently has a staff strength of six (6).

5. INTERNATIONAL LAW DIVISION

The International Law Division of the State Solicitor’s Office has eight (8) positions, of which two are currently unfunded: Deputy State Solicitor – International Law (DSS – International Law) and 1 Senior Legal Officer position (SLO.4). The actual staff on strength includes the DSS and four lawyers working under him as well as one legal secretary. The substantive Principal Legal Officer position is still occupied by the current a/Deputy Secretary and there is an officer within the division currently acting on this position.

The main function of this division is to ensure that the international obligations of the State are complied with. In this regard, the division is responsible for all international law matters including those involving law of the sea, maritime and fisheries, diplomatic and consular matters, trade related issues both bilaterally and multilaterally, constitutional procedures as regards treaty making, civil aviation as regards air services agreements, intellectual property rights, environmental, security including counter-terrorism and transnational organised crime and human rights matters.

The division has a close working relationship with other Departments and Agencies to, amongst others, ensure that:

1. The States’ international obligations are implemented domestically and;
2. On an international level, the interests of the State are taken into consideration.

In this regard the officers of the division work with other departments to coordinate implementation of international obligations through domestic legislation.

In addition to this, and as part of the nature of their job, officers also do quite a fair bit of traveling to represent the State, as legal advisors, at international meetings, negotiations (both bilateral and multilateral) and other international activities such as in the drafting of bilateral and multilateral agreements that the State enters into with other countries.

6. Conclusion

The State Solicitor’s office is important for the reason that it is the clearing house where important Decisions and actions of the government and state instrumentalities are checked for consistency and conformity to all existing laws, regulations administrative and executive decisions.   The State’s interests are guaranteed in that the office only serves the State and its agents only. Incidences of conflict with other clients are therefore minimized or non-existent.

The projected plan for the Office is to continue to provide quality legal services to our client which is the State, ensuring that the (3) sections in the office provide high quality legal advice with minimum delay.

It is in the interest of the State to ensure that the office is allowed to operate and carry out its day to day functions and activities with minimal control from outside forces and influences.

If the current staff strength is not maintained or if it is allowed to be depleted, it will seriously affect the quality and quantity of legal services and work output that the State is entitled to expect. The consequence of this is that the State will be forced to brief out commercial matters to private legal firms, which will mean that the costs to the State will swell and at times States’ interests will be compromised.

Further, based on the proposed Gas projects and other major mining and resource projects imminently to come on stream in the near future current staff strength will not perform its responsibility to a required standard.