WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2011-07-25 Time: 06:00:02 Posted By: News Poster
TO say that law firms in Namibia are a cartel is a gross understatement.
Not only is the legal profession a close-knit industry with long-established customs, but they have the law and a well-oiled regulatory body – the Law Society of Namibia – to enforce their monopolistic tendencies. As things stand, lawyers are prevented from charging lower fees for clients who can’t afford what the Law Society decrees.
As if that’s not enough, the Law Society is going all-out to ensure that lawyers are exempted from the country’s anti-monopoly rules that the Competition Commission oversees.
In addition, lawyers who deal with the transfer of property, especially houses, land and similar immovable assets, must have smiled after a Supreme Court decision last week that entrenched the current practice of charging clients set minimum fees.
It’s about time that lawmakers take a long, hard look at the legal profession, starting with the fees that a client must pay simply to get competent representation in court, buy a house or engage in business transactions.
If there’s one profession in this country that no one can do without it is the legal profession. From birth to death, buying property or signing any contract, lawyers are inescapable.
In a country where daily existence is based on the administration of the justice system, it is preposterous that lawyers are way too expensive for the vast majority of people.
To be blunt, the price is fixed. Anyone who has had to hire a lawyer directly will attest that they don’t come cheaply.
Before a lawyer has done any work (taking instruction, they call it), a client must pay at least between N$213 and N$1 066, nothing lower; just to listen to the client’s issue (consultation) is another N$213 to N$1066; drafting documents is N$128 to N$355 per page (and they use double spaces between every line); for reading through a document (perusing), the client forks out N$43 to N$171; a telephone call (whether they called or the client called them) goes for N$64 to N$107 every five minutes or less the time. The list is exhaustive.
The simple sale of shares will set a client back between N$2 500 and N$6 400, while a simple lease agreement is N$1 500 to nearly N$1 800.
It would not have been too much of a concern if these fees were a recommendation rather than set rules. Any lawyer found charging below these prescribed tariffs will be hauled before a disciplinary hearing for a ‘crime’ called touting. Thus lawyers who want to charge their clients cheaper rates dare not do so.
In its application to the Competition Commission to have lawyers exempted from fair competition laws, the Law Society claims “the fee guideline is primarily to protect the public from being overcharged …”.
That is disingenuous, to say the least! As it is, the public is already paying fees that are far high. What the Law Society calls guidelines are prescribed tariffs.
Many lawmakers complain about the legal profession being inaccessible to the majority of Namibians.
Take a look at the laws governing the legal profession, especially the fee structure. In that way you could open up the justice system to more Namibians and end the helplessness so many people feel when it comes to the legal profession. Justice should be facilitated, not denied.
It’s about time this cartel is broken up.
It’s Not A National Secret
PRESIDENT Hifikepunye Pohamba was admitted to the Central Hospital for a few days last week and has not been back to work since then.
Apart from treating it like a private matter, Government leaders, such as Prime Minister Nahas Angula and the Minister of Presidential Affairs, Albert Kawana, want us to believe that Pohamba has been booked off over a ‘routine’ check up. That explanation does not wash.
If trying to keep the President’s illness a secret was their aim, Government should learn from this experience that it only fuels speculation and, ultimately even alarm.
The President’s wellbeing is a matter of national interest simply because he is the ruler of this land. What with the habit of Namibians taking out huge advertisements to wish leaders, especially the President, a ‘happy birthday’ every year, no one ever says the public must keep their wishes to themselves.
So when the President is not well, the public ought to be informed promptly and fully. After all, they have elected the person and need to know at all times that their leader is fit to rule. It’s time we get away from this medieval practice of hiding this kind of information. It’s in no one’s interest.
Original Source: 
Original date published: 22 July 2011
Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/201107250102.html?viewall=1