Parliament’s ad hoc committee investigating the June 2024 military plane crash that killed former Vice-President Saulos Chilima and eight others has hinted at summoning former president Lazarus Chakwera to testify.
Committee chairperson Walter Nyamilandu said in an interview yesterday that Chakwera, who was at the helm when the accident happened on June 10 2024, could be among witnesses to be called when the inquiry enters its third phase of witness examination in October.
“We cannot rule out the possibility of inviting the former Head of State, President Lazarus Chakwera, to appear before the Ad hoc Committee,” he said.
Chakwera’s possible appearance would add a potentially explosive dimension to an inquiry that has already heard from senior government and military officials.
The session could also give the committee an opportunity to clarify questions surrounding the government’s response in the crucial hours after the aircraft carrying Chilima and eight others disappeared on June 10 2024.
In his first national address after the Malawi Defence Force (MDF) aircraft went missing, Chakwera said 10 people were aboard the aircraft. However, subsequent information established that nine people were on board.
The former president also told the nation that the MDF aircraft had failed to land in Mzuzu due to bad weather, but it later transpired that it did not reach its destination in the first place.
Further, he also disputed reports that the military-led search operation was discontinued, but witnesses testified that the search was suspended during the night of June 10 and resumed the following day.
Nyamilandu said the committee would not allow the 90-day timeframe indicated by Speaker of Parliament Sameer Suleman to compromise the quality of its work.
“There are emerging issues that are beyond the committee,” he said, stressing that the priority was to ensure a thorough inquiry.
The committee enters its second phase of public hearings today, with airport officials, weather experts, pilots and community members from around Nthungwa Forest expected to testify.
The inquiry, which began in May, has so far heard testimony from relatives of the nine people who died in the crash, as well as some of their close associates.
It has also heard from officials from the ministries of Transport and Defence, MDF and several former senior government officials, including former Secretary to the President and Cabinet Colleen Zamba.
Before the public hearings began, the committee visited Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe, where the MDF Dornier 228 aircraft, registration MAF T03, departed on June 10 2024 for Mzuzu Airport before crashing at Nthungwa in Viphya Plantation, killing all nine people on board.
