Council hires private lawyer to defend its cases in court

Mchinji District Council has sought the services of a private law firm called Sikwese and Company from Lilongwe to defend its cases in court.

In an interview, Mchinji District Commissioner, Peter Jimusole said the council has lost a number of cases in various levels of courts because it had no proper legal representation.

He said the council has lost millions of money through court cases.

“We decided to hire a lawyer on a framework arrangement to defend the council in court.

“You know the council is spending a lot of money to various stakeholders for simple reasons that we did not defend ourselves as most of them were default judgements,” he said.

Asked whether the council will sustain the process, Jimusole said the council will not lose a lot of money in paying the hired lawyer.

He added: “The council will not lose a lot of money in paying the hired lawyer, it is even cheaper than the money we have been losing after failing to defend ourselves in court.

“So it means every time we have an issue in court, we will be referring these issues to him so that he can defend the council.”

So far, the council has three cases in court, one of them involves council officials allegedly being involved in corrupt practices and that the hired lawyer has taken up all the cases.