The Commission of Inquiry into the June 10 2024 military plane crash that killed Vice-President Saulos Chilima and eight others got down to work yesterday by undertaking some tasks in the Northern Region.
The Nation sources said the team checked into a hotel in Mzuzu on Sunday and yesterday went out in the field. However, it was not immediately established if they visited the crash site at Nthungwa Hill on the Nkhata Bay side of Viphya Plantation which is 35 kilometres southwest of Mzuzu Airport.
In an interview yesterday, commission chairperson Jabbar Alide confirmed that the team has started its work, but said they would not divulge details of their assignment at this point in time.
He said: “The details of the work we are doing remain private and I cannot give details to the media or the public at this point. We are going to provide relevant information at an appropriate time.”
Alide, a judge of the High Court of Malawi, is heading the 19-member commission that President Lazarus Chakwera appointed on October 25 this year in line with Section 2(1) of the Commission of Inquiry Act of 2014 to examine circumstances leading to the accident.
In a separate interview, the commission’s secretary Chizaso Nyirongo said they will be giving the nation periodic updates through press statements.
He said: “The commission of inquiry will be doing its work based on its established mandate. We will at appropriate times inform the nation on progress made through press releases.
“We will try as much as possible to be accountable in the work that we are doing and have been appointed to do.”
A programme The Nation has seen shows that the commission will be in Mzuzu from November 4 to 9 and move to Blantyre between November 13 and 14 before heading to Balaka on November 15 and 16. In Lilongwe, the commission will be on the ground from November 18 to 23.
The President gave the team a November 30 2024 deadline to submit its report.
Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives executive director Sylvester Namiwa resigned from the commission barely two days after taking his oath, citing the decision to conduct the inquiry in camera as his reason.
In a letter to the President dated October 30 2024, he said it was strange that the commission has declined to open the inquiry to the public.
The President appointed the commission after months of calls for the inquiry from several stakholders, including Chilima’s widow, Mary, UTM Party, Democratic Progressive Party, United Democratic Front, Alliance for Democracy, Malawi Human Rights Commission and some civil society organisations.
The team comprises the clergy, chiefs, lawyers, aviation experts and other professionals.
The commission’s Terms of Reference (ToRs) we have seen show that it will also determine the procedures for procuring the use of the ill-fated MAF-TO3 aircraft from the Malawi Air Force and assess the state and performance of the aircraft on the day of the accident and the previous day.
Reads the document: “Establish the notification of the missing aircraft. When the Malawi Air Force was informed and the course and order of events taken in response.
“Escalation of the notification of the missing aircraft to His Excellency the President, what was communicated to the President and what directives the President gave.”
The commission is also expected to review the aviation protocols followed at both the departure and intended destination points.
According to the ToRs, the team is also tasked with investigating any communication between the passengers on board the MAF-TO3 and individuals on the ground during the flight. It will also cover the search and rescue efforts, from their commencement to the discovery of the aircraft wreckage on June 11 2024.
Furthermore, the commission will also consider all aspects surrounding the deaths of the passengers, including the cause of death and the sequence of events leading to the crash.
Read the ToRs: “The report, in writing, shall include a set of recommendations on any matter the commission may deem fit. The report shall then be published on the website of the government after being presented to His Excellency the President.”
In August, the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation released an interim report which highlighted several technical deficiencies in the crashed Malawi Defence Force (MDF) plane.
