Brazzaville – State lawyers in the Republic of Congo have decided to stop representing the government in court after not receiving pay for seven years, their association said on Friday.
Jean-Prosper Mabassi, the head of an association of state attorneys, told reporters during a meeting in the capital Brazzaville that the government had not paid its lawyers since 2015.
The finance ministry had also ignored several appeals to address the matter, according to a statement read out by Mabassi.
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State lawyers in the central African nation of about 5.5 million people will no longer represent the government in court in protest, the statement added.
It is not clear how much money the government owes its lawyers, but one attorney who declined to be named suggested that it ran to the equivalent of millions of dollars.
Also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Republic of Congo is an oil-rich country where 54% of the population lives in extreme poverty, according to the World Bank.
The finance ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
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Picture: Getty Images
Source: AFP
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