The Council of Governors (CoG) on Monday announced a plan to save public resources by utilising internal lawyers in various court cases.
In a statement, the council emphasised that this would reduce outsourcing and save public resources which has been an issue in the past where some counties were flagged for spending billions on external lawyers.
"County Attorneys and lawyers at the Council of Governors are increasingly handling court cases without involving external lawyers."
This was announced after the CoG legal committee appeared before the Senate Committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations and Justice, Legal Affairs and Human Rights to make their submissions on the matter.
"County Attorneys are competent and qualified legal professionals however, cases affecting County Governments may require specialized experts in various fields," read part of the statement.
Additionally, the Council explained that in some cases which may be diverse or complex, technical expertise may be required.
This came after a petition by the Grassroot Civilian Oversight Initiative was filed to restrain County governments from hiring external law firms to represent the devolved units in court.
During the committee session, the Council, through its representatives explained that external law firms were hired to ensure the cases were handled by professionals with the required level of expertise for every scenario.
Earlier on Monday, the Kenya Law Reform Commission (KLRC) while appearing before the Senate, proposed the amendment of the Office of the County Attorney Act to police to procuring of legal services by counties.
Based on the proposal put forward, county ministers will be required to seek confirmation from the county attorney if the devolved unit has the expertise to meet a certain need before proceeding to hire a consultant or external law firm.
The commission's CEO Joash Dache argued that the aforementioned recommendations if implemented, would reduce the misappropriation of limited public resources.
"This approach is consistent with established practices at the international, national level and among other state institutions, reflecting a commitment to leveraging specialised expertise to address complex legal challenges," Mary Mwiti, the CoG CEO stated while making her case.
