Mercelina says three legislative lawyers engaged for government legal work

Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina said on Tuesday 3 November that government has engaged three external legislative lawyers to provide part-time support to Legal Affairs with drafting and reviewing legislation. He gave the update during the Ministry of General Affairs' presentation of its draft 2027 National Budget to Parliament.

Mercelina said the lawyers were funded through a budget amendment approved during the 2026 parliamentary budget deliberations. He said Legal Affairs and the Department of Personnel and Organization, known as P&O, have faced personnel and specialist-staffing shortages that contributed to delays in legislative work, recruitment and administrative matters.

Mercelina also said government has a plan of approach with the Temporary Work Organization for an external legal support pool. Recruitment for the pool had begun, he said. The ministry is preparing a legislative calendar and work to standardise drafting and legal-advisory procedures.

For P&O, Mercelina said a recruitment specialist is being engaged and a local section head has been recruited to start later in November. Preparations are also under way to engage an external recruitment agency for government-wide hiring support.

Mercelina said the backlog of jubilee payments owed to public servants had fallen to 44 outstanding cases across government. The ministry also plans a digital human-resource management system and further work involving Facility Affairs and ICT, he said.