In a debate on his Ministry’s estimates in the last session of the National Assembly the Minister of Justice, Ndugu Joseph Warioba (who has now become Prime Minister) stated that the Government does not intend to abolish private legal practice but will look into better ways of providing the service to the majority of the people. Ndugu Warioba, said that the Government had always considered defence counselling a service that should be made available to everybody. However, private legal service was now a “business” and it was only the rich and urban people who could get the service; the poor and rural people did not get it.

The Minister who was answering points raised by MPs during the debate in which the law-makers opposed Government plans to abolish private practice, recalled that the Msekwa Commission on Defence Counselling formed some years back had also upheld the need to maintain private legal practice. He said the Government had agreed with the proposal but had rejected one which had suggested the establishment of some kind of institution to assist people in legal defence as this would have looked like a Government department.

He said that a new defence counselling system that would extend its services to people in the rural areas was essential.

On the congestion in prisons the Minister said his ministry would strive to clear pile ups of cases and strengthen procedures for investigating and prosecuting. He suggested, however, that one way of easing the problem was to grant bail to people facing petty cases. He said, for example, that it served no purpose to remand people charged for not
paying development levy.