By Gary Hatigeva
MEBERS of parliament that will have the opportunity to serve in the next parliament house have been urged to support proposals and projects that are deemed to be put forward for the next governments or will not be achieved in the lifespan of the 10th Parliament.
The Minister for Justice and Legal Affairs and Member of Parliament for West Makira, Derrick Manuwari made this statement when commenting on the time limitation at hand for some of the government’s major projects and proposals, which includes the office complex for his Ministry.
When revealing outlined projects his ministry is working to see their completion including a revived scheme of service initiative that is expected to look after the welfare and conditions of staffs especially lawyers working both within the ministry and the government, Manuwari pointed out that it is unfortunate a lot of developed projects continue to be overlooked by governments that come and go.
The Justice Minister was questioned on projects under his ministry including that of the proposed office complex and projections for its completion, Manuwari explained on the floor of parliament that due to time and fund limitation, the proposal will be shelfed off and he is only hoping that any new government can take it on and see to its completion.
However, Minister Manuwari stressed that this project needs to be realized so to avoid the issue of renting spaces, which he added, are becoming very costly for not only the ministry, but the government.
“Indeed this is a big concern of the government and my ministry because to maintain an impartial, fair respectful and efficient justice system, the welfare and working conditions of our lawyers is an important area the must be properly considered and addressed by any government of the day.
“One of the biggest costs for the ministry is to rent all these offices and that hinders our efforts in trying to address important issues.
He said with those in hand, the Ministry is eager to move away from renting private buildings to be housed in its own complex, but pointed out that the budgetary limitation has made it a real challenge to his ministry’s programmes and plans.
The office complex was proposed in 2012 and has since its initiation as a proposal remained to sit idle and based on the Minister’s response, it will remain idle for the next 12 months or so.
The complex if completed according to the Minister, is expected to house all government legal services including government lawyers, which includes the Attorney General’s Chamber, the office of the Director Public Prosecution and other relevant government legal agencies.
