The previous government’s shelling out of $99.1M in legal fees back in 2019 to recruit external counsel was flagged in the Auditor General (AG)’s report. The document stated that despite the Legal Affairs Ministry having at the time, one Solicitor General, one Deputy Solicitor General, two Assistant Solicitor Generals and six State Counsel in its employ, the Ministry still sought to recruit external aid.
Guyana Standard understands that three law firms and seven external Attorneys-At-Law were hired that year. Of the $99.1M, an undisclosed amount was paid in legal fees to lawyers and firms retained by the former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) government to fight the passage of the 2018 No-Confidence motion tabled by the then-opposition-now-government, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
Solicitor General, Nigel Hawke, who appeared at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) this week to defend the flagging of the expenditure, took umbrage at the way in which the matter was crafted in the report.
“It gives the impression as though the Solicitor General, the Deputy Solicitor General and the other officers do nothing. At the Chambers of the Attorney General, we get 10 cases per day – that’s an average. You calculate that per week, that’s 50 cases per week…These cases range from very technical to not-so-technical. So what is not reflected there is the volume of work. That is not flagged here,” Hawke stressed.
Furthermore, he noted the hiring of external counsel is a “perennial” issue, noting that his defence of the APNU+AFC’s hiring has “nothing to do with politics”.
“It’s a normal practice in Guyana, it’s normal practice in first-world countries, it’s the normal practice throughout the entire Commonwealth Caribbean and the Commonwealth. The State, if it desires to retain the best counsel to fight its case, it can do so as a matter of policy,” he said.
The SG noted that while the services were sole-sourced, their procurement was greenlighted by the National Procurement and Tender Administration Board (NPTAB). He added that while the capacity has been enhanced at the Chambers by recruiting more lawyers, there are still issues.
“Look at the data. The 13 that we have are just out of law school. I have to take them in arms and take them every day. So, it will take time for them to develop the calibre that we’re looking for. I am not a Senior Counsel; I wouldn’t profess that I know everything. Sometimes you need a lawyer with particular expertise to aid the State,” he said.
He added, “Now, we have the oil and gas industry and we don’t have the expertise in our chambers to deal with that. I will be the first to tell you that. So, if you want to go and hire a law firm to assist with the oil and gas, you have to go externally. But it will still be reflected in the Auditor General’s report that the chamber has a Solicitor General, a Deputy, and an Assistant and yet we’re hiring private counsel – we have to! There is no other choice!”
He added that the Chamber is unable to attract persons with the desired expertise because the “payscales are low”.
Overall, the Solicitor General emphasized that the hiring of external counsel should not be seen as a reflection of the performance of the Attorney General’s office or its staff. Instead, it is a practical solution to address the legal needs of the state, particularly in specialized areas.
