Archbishop Thomas Luke Msusa has faulted findings of a Commission of Inquiry into the June 10 2024 plane crash that killed Vice- President Saulos Chilima and eight others, saying it failed to establish what really happened.
In his Christmas Eve Mass homily at Limbe Cathedral in Blantyre, the head of the Catholic Church Archdiocese of Blantyre said the world has not been told the truth about the accident and that time will come when the truth shall be known.
While describing the year 2024 as the most challenging, Msusa said Malawians were still mourning Chilima, who was one of the church’s loyal congregants.
Said the Archbishop: “I am not satisfied with the findings we have been presented with by those who conducted the investigations… We are respected and dignified people so we shouldn’t be cheated. We are yet to be told the truth.
“During the Mass Service for the late Chilima at Nsipe [in Ntcheu] I stated that no matter what, there is somebody who witnessed and recorded everything that happened in Chikangawa.
“This darkness shall end and we shall all know the truth about what happened because the person who recorded the incident is still alive… I proclaim; the truth shall set you free, but if we attempt to cover up we will be restless.”
Msusa’s voice adds to those of some political, social and human rights advocates who have also expressed reservations with the findings for purportedly leaving yawning gap s while trying to exonerate duty-bearers and blame the deceased persons who cannot defend themselves.
The inquiry, appointed by Pres i d ent L az a r u s Chakwera in October amid calls from bereaved families and others, was headed by High Court of Malawi Judge Jabber Alide.
It ruled out foul play and attributed the cause to bad weather and human factors.
But Msusa said it was di f f icult to bel ieve the findings of the inquiry when one analyses the pictures taken from the scene of the crash that went viral on social media and what the nation was told regarding the cause of the incident.
“We were informed the aircraft crashed in a thick forest, but the pictures showed there was only a single tree around the scene and the accident site was also near the main road,” he said.
Reading the report on December 14, Alide said there was no evidence of technical fault, adding that the aircraft was in good condition as it had only attained 3 000 hours of flying at the time of the accident. He also said the deaths of the nine aboard the Malawi Defence Force (MDF) aircraft was by high impact velocity injuries.
And speaking at Kamuzu Pa lace in Lilongwe on December 15 when the commission presented the report to him, the President said it was important for the society to believe in the inquiry, appealing to Malawians to come to terms with the findings for the nation to move on.
Chilima, former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri and seven others were on board an MDF plane Dornier 228 MAFT03 from Lilongwe to Mzuzu Airport when it crashed in Viphya Plantation.
The others who died in the crash were Chilima’s guard commander Lukas Kapheni, aide-de-camp Chi somo Chimaneni, medical officer Dan Kanyemba, Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy chief of protocol Abdul Lapukeni, Colonel Owen Sambalopa the pi l o t- i n -command, Major Flora Selemani who was the second pilot and aircraft engineer Major Wales Aidin.
Since the crash, there have been calls from civ il society organisations, politicians and Chi lima’s widow, Mar y, f o r the government to institute a commission of inquiry to look into the events surrounding the crash.
In June, three experts from Germany started investigations to determine the probable cause of the crash.
The experts included one from General Atomics, a company that has taken over the manufacturing of Dornier 228s, while the other two were from the German Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation.
However, their interim report was short of details of what caused the crash. They said a detailed technical report will be released next year.
