Malawians will forever remember June 10 as the day in 2024 when they kept their fingers crossed after it emerged
that a Malawi Defence Force (MDF) aircraft carrying then Vice-President Saulos Chilima and eight others had gone missing.
It was destined for Mzuzu Airport from Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe, but did not reach its destination by the expected
time. Then, 24 hours later, President Lazarus Chakwera announced to an expectant nation that the mangled wreck of the Malawi Airforce (MAF) TO3 Dornier aircraft was found in Nthungwa Forest within the Viphya Plantation, but all people on board were dead. Besides Chilima, others in the crash were former First Lady Patricia Shanil Dzimbiri, Chilima’s guard commander
Lukas Kapheni, aide-de-camp Chisomo Chimaneni, medical officer Dan Kanyemba, Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy chief of protocol Abdul Lapukeni, pilot in-charge Colonel Owen Sambalopa, second pilot Major
Flora Selemani Ngwirinji and aircraft engineer Major Wales Aidin. Today, the President will lead the nation in a memorial service for the victims at Lunjika Turnoff in Mzimba District near the plane crash site. On the other hand, the Chilima family has also organised a memorial service starting with mass at Nsipe,
Ntcheu where he was laid to rest. Around midday, the Saulos Klaus Chilima (SKC) Foundation, led by Mary Chilima, will donate medical supplies to Ntcheu District Hospital before the party he co-founded UTM Party hosts a memorial service at Nsipe Primary School ground to culminate into a candlelight memorial.
In brief responses yesterday, both presidential press secretary Anthony Kasunda and Minister of Information and Digitalisation Moses Kunkuyu confirmed that the President will attend the memorial in Mzimba.
During a media briefing in Lilongwe last Friday, Kunkuyu said Chakwera had directed that the memorial, marking a year after the tragic event, takes place
at Nthungwa, while recognising that families will also have other events. He said: “The President has directed
that the nation holds a special memorial at Nthungwa to honour the lives of our late Vice-President and eight others. The service will be led by the Malawi Defence Force. There will also be an inter-denominational prayer service.”
But Kunkuyu said government was aware that bereaved families may be holding special memorials and prayers across the nation for the lost loved ones and the Nthungwa memorial complements such events. In an interview last evening, the Chilima family spokesperson Dr. Ben Chilima said there will be prayers at the grave site, laying of wreaths and thereafter they will have other activities at their home. He said: “As a family we will have discussions and issue a statement on how we will remember SKC. But we want to respect other families as well so our statement will recognise that.”
UTM Party spokesperson Felix Njawala, speaking on the Nsipe memorial, said they have St. Patrick’s Parish Choir from Area 18 in Lilongwe where the fallen Veep used to congregate as well as St Cecelia Catholic Choir from Archdiocese of Blantyre which sang Chilima’s
favourite ‘Ife ndi antchito chabe’. He said musicians such as Ethel Kamwendo Banda, Evance Meleka, Saul Chembezi and Makawa will also perform at Nsipe.
On the other hand, the Dzimbiri family has also released a programme showing that a tombstone for the late Shanil will be unveiled on June 14 in Balaka.
Meanwhile, governance pundit George Chaima has described the late Chilima as brave and courageous as well as a person who wanted to see Malawi develop as attested in the public
sector reforms programme which he championed.
He said: “As Malawians remember the departed souls, it is absolutely important to pray for the families that the
wound which was created must heal. “Their names should betreated as martyrs and not be used during the campaign to gain political mileage.”
A final technical report by German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU) released on Saturday attributed the cause of the accident to collision with terrain following adverse weather. The report, which has since
been published on the BFU’s website nearly a year after the tragic accident, states that the flight crew operated in adverse weather conditions; hence, leading to the crash. A commission of inquiry the President appointed also ruled out foul play in the accident.
