Three years on: ‘Fake lawyer’ charge dropped

AFTER 13 court appearances over more than three years, Plan veterans’ leader, private investigator and self-styled paralegal Alex Kamwi no longer has a charge of illegally practising as a legal practitioner pending against him.

The charge of contravening a section of the Legal Practitioners Act by allegedly doing work that is the preserve of properly admitted legal practitioners in Namibia only was grudgingly withdrawn against Kamwi by the State on Thursday, when Kamwi made his 13th appearance in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court. With the court appearance, Public Prosecutor Nuncia Sikongo asked Magistrate Uaatjo Uanivi to grant the prosecution another postponement for the purpose of getting the Prosecutor General’s decision on the matter.Kamwi’s lawyer, Titus Ipumbu, objected.Noting that the case dated from 2004 – Kamwi made the first of his court appearances on June 7 2004 – Ipumbu told the Magistrate that the case already had been postponed finally on May 11 this year for the Prosecutor General’s decision to be made.If there was a shortage of human resources in the PG’s office it could not override an accused person’s right to a speedy trial, Ipumbu said.He asked that the charge should rather be withdrawn.Magistrate Uanivi refused to grant a further postponement.With the State’s hand forced through this refusal, Sikongo had little choice but to withdraw the charge.Because Kamwi has not yet pleaded to the charge, and as a result has not been pronounced as either guilty or not guilty, he might again be charged if the PG decides to continue with the prosecution against him.His case was postponed for a first time for the PG’s decision on the matter to be made in August 2005.By March last year, the court was informed that the PG had given instructions that further investigations had to be done.The case was thereafter again postponed three times, since November last year, for the PG’s decision to become available.Kamwi, a former member of the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia, who runs a private investigation and in his own words “paralegal” business under the name of Nationwide Detectives and Professional Practitioners CC, bitterly complained about the charge during a previous court appearance.He charged that he was facing a “totally malicious prosecution”, and claimed that the dozen times he already had to appear in court at that stage was an infringement on his constitutional rights.He remained free on bail of N$1 000 while the case against him was pending.With the court appearance, Public Prosecutor Nuncia Sikongo asked Magistrate Uaatjo Uanivi to grant the prosecution another postponement for the purpose of getting the Prosecutor General’s decision on the matter.Kamwi’s lawyer, Titus Ipumbu, objected.Noting that the case dated from 2004 – Kamwi made the first of his court appearances on June 7 2004 – Ipumbu told the Magistrate that the case already had been postponed finally on May 11 this year for the Prosecutor General’s decision to be made.If there was a shortage of human resources in the PG’s office it could not override an accused person’s right to a speedy trial, Ipumbu said.He asked that the charge should rather be withdrawn.Magistrate Uanivi refused to grant a further postponement.With the State’s hand forced through this refusal, Sikongo had little choice but to withdraw the charge.Because Kamwi has not yet pleaded to the charge, and as a result has not been pronounced as either guilty or not guilty, he might again be charged if the PG decides to continue with the prosecution against him.His case was postponed for a first time for the PG’s decision on the matter to be made in August 2005.By March last year, the court was informed that the PG had given instructions that further investigations had to be done.The case was thereafter again postponed three times, since November last year, for the PG’s decision to become available.Kamwi, a former member of the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia, who runs a private investigation and in his own words “paralegal” business under the name of Nationwide Detectives and Professional Practitioners CC, bitterly complained about the charge during a previous court appearance.He charged that he was facing a “totally malicious prosecution”, and claimed that the dozen times he already had to appear in court at that stage was an infringement on his constitutional rights.He remained free on bail of N$1 000 while the case against him was pending.