Harare — THE inclusive government is working on the Attorney-General (AG)'s Office Bill that is expected to clip the wings of Johannes Tomana, the State's chief legal advisor, through the creation of a board that will oversee the operations of the office, The Financial Gazette can reveal.

The Bill is being crafted three years after the stalling of a similar proposed law due to wrangling between Justice and Legal Affairs Minister, Patrick Chinamasa, and the then AG, Sobusa Gula-Ndebele.

Highly-placed sources said the Bill creates another fighting point between ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations as the latter is expected to push for amendments to give the AG's Office greater autonomy and independence when the draft is finally brought before Cabinet and Parliament.

The MDC formations have a majority in Parliament, giving them leverage on proposed legislation passing through the legislative assembly before being assented to by President Robert Mugabe.

Both MDC factions accuse the government's top lawyer, who in February publicly declared his allegiance to ZANU-PF, of working with the rival party to diminish its majority in Parliament through the prosecution of its lawmakers.

A source said the new Bill will have slight changes from the previous one which suffered a stillbirth due to the bad blood between Chinamasa and Gula-Ndebele that culminated in the minister being dragged to court -- first after being sued by 55 law officers in the AG's Office following a misunderstanding over transport allowances; followed by his prosecution on an alleged attempt to defeat the course of justice.

"Efforts to reform the AG's Office are underway. Apart from removing the AG's office from the Public Service, there would be a board administering the office. There shall be collective supervision, it no longer would be a one-man show," a source said.

Yesterday, Tomana confirmed the pending legislation, but denied his wings would be clipped.

"I can confirm that there is a Bill coming. It gives the Office autonomy administratively and operationally," Tomana said. "But I don't see how my wings would be clipped by a board that I will chair," he added.

The AG Bill is also expected to require that the board be constituted by members from within and outside the Office and be chaired by the AG and should prepare annual reports for tabling in Parliament to enhance accountability.

The Office would also have a separate vote different from that of the Justice Ministry.

The alleged bias of the current AG has seen the issue of his appointment, together with that of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor, Gideon Gono, being referred to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) after President Robert Mugabe said the two would stay put in their positions.

As part of its ninth conference resolutions on Monday, the MDC-T urged the regional grouping to call for an extraordinary summit to deal with the two issues.

In an interview on Tuesday, MDC-T chief whip, who is also the party's secretary for legal affairs, Innocent Gonese, said although he was not aware of the current development, his party would push for autonomy of the AG's Office as the current one lacks independence.

"We would want an AG who is impartial, professional, a person of integrity -- these are things that should be enshrined and protected by the new Bill," said Gonese.

"At the moment, the AG does not seem to be independent from the minister. The Minister of Justice seems to be too closely linked with the AG's Office. The distinction is blurred."

In November 2006, Chinamasa conceded at a meeting with the Justice department staff at the Bulawayo Magistrates Court that the original AG's Office Bill had been held up by the issue of who should control the office.

"I am sure that most of you are aware of the fact that the delay in the progression of the AG's Office Bill is over a tug-of-war between myself and Cde Gula-Ndebele. The problem centres on who should control the department. This is particularly a policy issue and we hope we will soon find a solution to it . . . the bone of contention is who should have control over that department,' Chinamasa said.

The Minister was speaking shortly after he had been acquitted on obstruction of justice charges for allegedly attempting to coerce State witnesses to withdraw their testimonies against ZANU-PF secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa, who was facing political violence charges in a trial that was to be the highlight of his differences with Gula-Ndebele.

Gula-Ndebele was dismissed by President Mugabe last year after he was found guilty of abusing his office after allegedly meeting banker James Mushore even though he knew that the latter was on the police's wanted persons list.