Call to probe plane crash
THE party of Malawi’s vice-president Saulos Chilima, who was killed this week in a plane crash, yesterday demanded an investigation.
Chilima died on Monday alongside eight others when a military aircraft on an internal flight crashed into Malawi’s Chikangawa Forest in dense fog.
His party, the United Transformation Movement (UTM), allied with President Lazarus Chakwera’s Malawi Congress Party (MCP) in the 2020 presidential election, fielding a joint ticket.
But the alliance that brought the pair to office is now under pressure, with UTM leaders demanding answers from government ministers over the accident.
“We demand to know what happened to our leader. The plane had previously flown to Mzuzu under similar weather conditions,” said leading UTM figure Stevie Mikaya, a regional governor.
Yesterday, UTM members of parliament and party councillors sought to bar Minister of Defence Harry Mkandawire and Homeland Security Minister Ken Zikhale Ng’oma from attending Chilima’s funeral.
At the party’s headquarters in the capital, Lilongwe, Mikaya accused the ministers of negligence.
“It’s disheartening that the plane crashed at 10am, yet no action was taken to rescue those involved. We believe timely efforts from the ministers could have saved lives,” he said.
MP Chrissie Kanyasho criticised the government’s search efforts for the wrecked plane, which was only found on Tuesday. “When we learned about the crash around 2pm, we mobilised to search Chikangawa Forest,” she said. “We found only one military vehicle with nine soldiers searching the entire area, which was inadequate.”
Chilima, 51, who died alongside eight others, including former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, will be laid to rest on Monday in his home village in the Ntcheu district. Initial reports had said 10 people died on the plane, but one of the people on the passenger manifest did not take the flight.
The plane, a Malawi Army Air Wing Dornier 228-202K, disappeared on Monday after it failed to land in the northern city of Mzuzu due to bad weather and was told to return to Lilongwe.
On Tuesday, President Chakwera said he had previously flown on the same aircraft for similar trips and the crew had successfully operated it just hours before the accident.