Legal Awareness Campaigns Receive Overwhelming Response

The Malawi Legal Aid Bureau says the Chilungamo Justice and Accountability program countrywide awareness campaigns have received overwhelming response.

The European Union (EU) funded project aims at facilitating ease of access to justice by local people, especially those that cannot manage to hire a lawyer through adverts on radios and televisions to maximize reach.

Public Relations Officer for the bureau, Jacqueline Ngongonda said through the awareness campaigns, the bureau has received double the number of cases it normally receives in a year.

“We used to receive an average of about 500 cases in a year per region. Now, the number has doubled and exceeded 1,000 cases in a year per region. As for the public awareness campaigns, we have managed to conduct in nine districts of Machinga, Karonga, Phalombe and Nkhotakota, among others,” Ngongonda said.

Ngongonda, therefore, urged the general public with any legal grievances to visit the bureau offices in all the regions of the country for advice or legal representation.

Legal Aid Bureau was established under Section 3 of the Legal Aid Act of 2010 to provide legal aid services to vulnerable people in need of such services.

The awareness campaigns began in May last year and have been conducted in most districts of the country such as Rumphi, Nkhotakota, Ntchisi, Mwanza and Mulanje. f