‘Lord, I have accepted the loss’

Fallen Vice-President Saulos Chilima’s personal clinician Daniel Kanyemba was laid to rest in Mitundu, Lilongwe amid a cry from his widow, Takondwa, who said: “Lord, I have accepted the loss.”

A sobbing Takondwa expressed her feelings as she laid a wreath on the grave of her husband who died in a plane crash in Mzimba on Monday alongside his boss and seven others.

Ceaseless weeping, distraught faces and blaring hearse sirens characterised the near-three hour ceremony in Chiwala Village, Traditional Authority Chiseka in Lilongwe.

In his tribute, Minister of Justice Titus Mvalo, who represented President Lazarus Chakwera, said at 35, Kanyemba still had a lot to contribute to the country.

“The President is extremely saddened by this death. He was a very young man with a promising future. The President was keen that he gets a befitting burial,” said the minister.

The bereaved family’s spokesperson group village head Mankhamba described Kanyemba as a family pillar.

“We are in shock because we have lost a great man. He was humble, and a generous person,” he said.

Mankhamba said his death made it more painful, adding that “it is the will of God. We can’t oppose it”.

In his sermon, the Reverend Amuna Majoni of Mwala CCAP congregation under the Nkhoma Synod said the deaths of the nine plane crash victims highlighted the fragility of life.

“What this means is that anyone’s life can be taken away any time,” he said.

Born in 1989, Kanyemba is survived by a wife and three children.

Besides Kanyemba, others who were buried yesterday were the guard commander Lucas Kapheni at Mazinga Village, Traditional Authority (T/A) Santhe in Kasungu and the Vice-President’s aide de camp, Chisomo Chimaneni at Makwaule Village, T/A Chiwoloko in Ntchisi