Prof Kamchedzera bemoans legal malpractices: ‘Malawi lawyers falling short on ethics’

Malawi is experiencing the dwindling of legal standards; this has been observed by Professor Garton Kamchedzera in the department of legal studies at Chancellor College, the constituent college of University of Malawi.

Kamchedzera said the dwindling of legal standards in country that is marred with greed and materialism.

He said legal practitioners are more interested in money making than serving the public who are in dilemma seeking justice.

Kamchedzera made the remarks Friday May 29, 2015 during the sensitisation conference in the capital Lilongwe which Malawi Law Society (MLC) organized for legal practitioners aimed at highlighting emerging issues in ethics for possible transacting of business with the public interest.

“It very embarrassing and hurting to hear that some of my former students are implicated in dubious deals which has lowered the public trust on legal practitioners in the country which is one of the oldest and noble professions worldwide due to greed and hungry to make money fast,” the law professor said.

He titled his presentation: “The salient features of ethics for the Malawian lawyers: Emerging issues in ethics”.

Kamchedzera said: “Legal professional is a calling from GOD; so, competency and compliance to ethical values complement the sector to serve the public. Legal practitioners are supposed to bid by that, otherwise, we are not helping the already rotten society which has lost its cultural values. Therefore, we must be vigilant in reversing the country’s moral values through our decisive attitudes and behaviour when executing our work”.

Of late there have been claims of ‘judge-shopping’ in the judiciary which newly confirmed Chief Justice Andrew Nyirenda has vowed to deal with any attempts of ‘judge shopping’, saying the malpractice defeats the objective of justice .

Attorney General Kalekeni Kaphale has since assured that government will protect its citizens from any injustices or legal malpractices.