Attorney General of Malawi, Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda on Thursday urged for a speedy conclusion of cases by courts and the legal fraternity saying justice delayed equals justice denied.

Nyirenda said this Wednesday, during the Supreme Court of Appeal 2023 memorial sitting at the High Court of Malawi in Blantyre aimed at honouring departed members of the Bench and Bar from 2009 to date.

“The departed whom we are honouring today made a good contribution to their country and we need to continue upholding the rule of law like the way the departed judges, lawyers, magistrates, and assistant registrars did.

“The judiciary’s vision is that cases should be concluded quickly and expeditiously, and where we have a lot of case loads should be reduced significantly. If a person goes to access justice and goes to court and his or her case delays even if the judgment is made in his favour, it means there is no justice at all because it has taken too long to be given,” he said.

He added that the country needs an efficient system where, when people bring their grievances there should be able to get their cases heard as soon as possible and judgments passed in time.

In his remarks, Malawi Law Society President, Patrick Mpaka said while the legal fraternity is celebrating lives of the departed, they should learn from the way the departed conducted themselves saying their souls cannot be happy with the way justice is being handled currently.

He said: “Let us ask ourselves if we are really helping Malawians to access justice, when we talk about delayed justice, we are talking from living examples, for instance I have a case in court that dates back from 2016 but up to now has not been concluded and this is a huge problem which must be checked”.