Fees of Legal Aid counsel slashed

Head of the authority, Senior Counsel Israel Khan told staff at its monthly meeting last month that it was decided that in the interest of ensuring staff is retained in the face of harsh economic times, certain strict measures must be undertaken by the organisation.

“In the coming year, we will be all called upon to make sacrifices for the greater good of the country! Less than a century ago when the nation faced the greatest economic challenge of the time, your forebears did what was necessary to ensure their survival.

If that meant eating sada and alloo and pawpaw, they did what had to be done,” he said.

Khan stressed that the Authority’s most immediate concern was retaining all staff. “If we as a Board took the decision to have a $500,000 Christmas party at the Radisson, give out long service awards, then lay-off 20 employees the next month, it would be obscene.

I (would) rather everybody has a job and for Divali we eat two doubles and light a deyah at each office!” “I cannot promise that the next fiscal will be easy, but I can say that we can weather this storm together. Hopefully one day soon, even if it is two years from now, the nation will be in a better financial state and we can celebrate the achievements of the past forty years properly,” Khan told staff.