Former Office of the Vice-President Principal Secretary Luckie Sikwese has told the Ad Hoc Committee of Parliament investigating the June 10 2024 military plane crash how then Cabinet minister Richard Chimwendo Banda missed the flight.
Testifying before the inquiry into the crash that killed vice-president Saulos Chilima and eight others, he said the name of Chimwendo Banda, who is Malawi Congress Party (MCP) secretary general, was not on the list to board the plane from Lilongwe to Mzuzu.
During the hearing at Parliament Building in Lilongwe on Thursday, Sikwese said it emerged to him that the possibility of Chimwendo Banda boarding the plane was discussed during a telephone conversation on the evening of June 9 2024.
He further told the inquiry that former Secretary to the President and Cabinet (SPC) Colleen Zamba enquired if there was space on the aircraft for Chimwendo Banda to travel with Chilima and his entourage to Nkhata Bay for the funeral of former Attorney General and Cabinet minister Ralph Kasambara.
Sikwese said he told the then SPC that the aircraft was reconfigured and Malawi Defence Force (MDF) prescribed that it could only carry eight passengers and three crew members because some seats were removed to create space for Kasambara’s casket the previous day.
He recounted: “At around 7.30PM, I noticed that I had a missed call from Ms Colleen Zamba. At 7.43PM, she called and inquired whether the Vice-President would travel to the late Ralph Kasambara’s funeral ceremony.
“I indicated that the Vice-President would go, but there were no logistical arrangements in place. At 8.05PM, I missed another call from Ms Zamba and immediately called back. At that point, she wanted to find out whether there was space in the aircraft so that honourable Chimwendo Banda could join the Vice-President.
“My assumption was that she was informed through other means that the Vice-President was going to Nkhata Bay. I informed Ms Zamba that the MDF had advised that the plane had space for eight passengers and three crew members.”
Sikwese’s narrative contradicted earlier reports that Chimwendo Banda, who was Minister of Local Government at the time, was among the people in Chilima’s delegation, but excused himself at the last minute.
He also said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation was expected to have the manifest of all those boarding the plane with Chilima.
But in his testimony, Gripps Chimzimu, an assistant protocol officer in Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation at Kamuzu International Airport (KIA), said there was no written documentation relating to the trip and that he only learned about the passengers on the day of departure.
He also said he was not aware of the identities of the cabin crew nor could he identify most of the individuals seen at the VVIP lounge before departure.
Said Chinzimu: “In a private plane like this one, there is a form that they fill in. It contains the list of crew members and passengers. The individual that I saw was part of the crew members, whose identities we, as those working in the VIP section, were not aware of. They usually hand it over when departing and, from our information, they were not part of the passenger list.”
The testimonies also gave conflicting details about the weather with some pointing to the fact that there was no forewarning that weather conditions were poor enroute to Mzuzu.
Chimzimu told the committee that there was no such warning prior to the take-off of the flight, contradicting earlier suggestions that the crew was warned of foggy weather on the day of the crash.
Taking his turn, special assistant to the VP, Joshua Valera, confirmed that weather conditions in the Northern Region were poor and that it was raining, though he believed the weather would not prevent the aircraft from landing.
The inquiry also learnt that Chilima initially hesitated to make the trip and had intended to delegate his wife, Mary.
Office of the Vice-President Principal Secretary for Administration Eric Yesaya told the committee that Chilima had initially indicated that he would not attend Kasambara’s funeral.
He said he only learnt on the evening of June 9 2024 from Sikwese that Chilima had changed his plans and intended to attend the burial using an MDF aircraft.
The inquiry was also told that Chilima wanted to attend the funeral of Kasambara and later see then President Lazarus Chakwera off to the Bahamas.
Former Ministry of Defence Principal Secretary James Chiusiwa told the committee that the ministry was not involved in coordinating travel or passenger arrangements for Chilima’s trip and that its involvement was limited to matters concerning MDF.
National Advocacy Platform chairperson Benedicto Kondowe said the hearing have this far unearthed some details that people were not aware of and appealed for patience from the public.
Committee chairperson Walter Nyamilandu said in an interview that so far the committee has managed to get the information they were looking for.
On the fateful day, the MDF aircraft number MAF T03 left Mzuzu Airport at 7.05AM and landed at KIA in Lilongwe at 7.48AM to pick Chilima and his entourage to Mzuzu en route to Nkhata Bay for Kasambara’s funeral. Others on board the plane were former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, Lukas Kapheni, Chisomo Chimaneni, Dan Kanyemba and Abdul Lapukeni. The flight was operated by Colonel Owen Sambalopa, Major Flora Selemani and Major Wales Aidin from MDF.
The aircraft departed KIA at 9.17AM, but did not reach Mzuzu.
