Orton Chirwa (30 January 1919 – 20 October 1992) was a lawyer and political leader in colonial Nyasaland and after independence became Malawi's Minister of Justice and Attorney General.

In 1954, Chirwa joined with Charles Matinga and Andrew Mponda in forming the short-lived Nyasaland Progressive Association, dedicated to working within the new reality of the federation.

[6] During 1954 - 1956, approximately, Chirwa was an instructor at Domasi Teacher Training College, where, along with David Rubadiri and Alec Nyasulu, he reportedly was active in infusing his students with nationalist political consciousness.

[7] In 1959, the British Colonial Government banned the Nyasaland African Congress (NAC) and arrested most of the political party's leaders, including Orton Chirwa and Banda in a mass swoop known as Operation Sunrise.

It has been suggested that the British government might have harbored hopes of Chirwa taking the leadership reins as a moderate nationalist, but it soon became clear that he was merely "keeping the seat warm" for Banda.

[6] In November 1959 when he visited Iain Macleod, the Colonial Secretary in the Conservative government under Harold Macmillan, he made clear that MCP would only negotiate independence with Banda as its head.

Three days after Banda was released from Gwelo Prison on 2 April 1960, Orton Chirwa together with other NAC leaders invited him to stand for President of the MCP.

[9] Orton Chirwa was named Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, (a position slightly short of Minister) in Dr. Banda's interim administration which took office in 1962.

[10] In the run-up to the 1964 National Assembly elections, he was active in promoting the use of "traditional courts" as an alternative to the existing judiciary, a controversial move in that these courts were subject to significant political influence, and was heavily criticised by the Chief Justice for this and by the Governor, Glyn Jones, for failing to investigate and prosecute hundreds of cases of politically motivated intimidation, in the form of assaults, murders, arson and crop destruction, as well as cases of intimation against Jehovah's Witnesses.

At the end of their appeal in 1983, the minority of the appellate judges that had legal training opposed the guilty verdict, but it was over-ruled by the majority composed of traditional chiefs.

[2] In autumn 1992, when a delegation of British legal experts was allowed to visit Orton and Vera at the prison, the Chirwas were able to meet again for the first time in 8 years.