The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubacarr Tambadou, has expressed concern about the scarcity of lawyers at the Ministry of Justice.

Mr. Tambadou said his ministry is in ‘crisis’ as it had only 17 lawyers to deal with the heavy caseloads at the courts as well as providing legal services to the government.

“You know right now this ministry is in crisis .. it’s on the verge of collapse … I’m serious. I have seventeen lawyers to help me with our work to provide legal services to government, to appear in courts, to go to meetings,” Mr. Tambadou told journalists at a press conference on Monday.

He said many of the ministry’s lawyers had been taken by the established Commissions such as the Truth Commission (TRRC), Constitutional Review Commission among others and that other lawyers had left the ministry to advance their professional careers.

Mr Tambadou said: “I had to bring this to the attention of the President because of the criticality of the situation. I have lost a lot of staff to all these Commissions. They have moved on to advance their careers quite naturally that’s all we aspire in life and I can’t just compete with the service.

“My staff are leaving me unfortunately at a time when I need them but I do not blame them but I think I would have done the same if I were in their shoes – what I need is the support to this ministry to be able to retain those who are left here and perhaps attract them (those who left) back here to this ministry.”

Reporting by Adama Makasuba