Magistrate
Hilary Abeke of the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court on 3 August 2016 expressed his
concern about the way lawyers delay cases.
He
said that litigants have filed petitions saying that the cases he is presiding
over are not proceeding.
He
further stated that because of this complaint, the authorities had written a
letter asking why cases are not proceeding.
He
made these statements in a particular case, where two lawyers were arguing.
He
told them to stop unnecessary argument, taking the whole time of the court.
“Nobody
will write to us if we do our work as expected of us,” he told the court.
He
said he gave multiple days for this particular case, but the lawyers involved
were delaying the case.
“If
the trend continues, I will give thirty minutes to lawyers to present their
cases. We should move forward,” he addressed the lawyers.
He
further stated that he saw no reasons why lawyers delay cases when people in
the courtroom are waiting for their cases to be heard.
He
warned lawyers that he would not tolerate any delaying of cases.
