By Vincent Gunde
President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera on 10th June, 2025 made a historic first visit to the site where Dr. Saulosi Chilima and eight others, were tragically killed in the Chikangawa forest marking one- year anniversary since the tragic plane crash on the 10th June, 2024.
Nthungwa, the name of the site was referred to an area which was very far away from villages and cannot be reached by Malawi Defense Force (MDF) soldiers who were deployed on a searching mission team investigating the missing plane which carried Dr. Saulosi Chilima and eight others, to Mzuzu.
And as President Chakwera was at Chikangawa forest in Mzimba district, families of the departed souls who were killed in the tragic plane crash converged at Nsipe in Ntcheu district to honor and remember the souls through a Memorial service.
The Ntcheu Memorial service was also attended by opposition party leaders who included former President of the Republic of Malawi Dr. Joyce Banda and former Vice President Khumbo Hastings Kachali, and other dignitaries.
Missing on the programme in Ntcheu was Ngwenyama Inkosi ya Makosi Gomani V who joined President Chakwera and his Vice President Dr. Michael Usi at Lujeri Turn-Off in Mzimba to honor and remember the departed nine souls including Dr. Saulosi Chilima.
In Chikangawa forest, President of the United Democratic Front (UDF) was in attendance and he also laid his wreath on the pillars of the nine departed souls whose death is still a subject of discussion to this day with millions of questions without answers.
Speaking after laying his wreaths in the Chikangawa forest, President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera described 10th June, 2024 as the most devastating, heartbreaking and unforgettable day in the country’s history when the country lost the Vice President Dr. Saulosi Chilima and eight others, in the tragic plane crash.
Dr. Chakwera said Malawians need to come together before God to pray for one another because there will be a day for all to die and no one is going to live for life urging Malawians to mourn Dr. Chilima and eight others, in their own way.
He emphasized the importance of unity in the country that Malawians are one advising the people to remember and honor the lives lost in the Chikangawa forest in their different districts and locations where their bodies were buried.
“Dr. Chilima was the most senior person among the departed souls, and he deserves recognition-the six-lane road in Lilongwe will be called Chilima Highway,” said Dr. Chakwera.
Mrs. Judith Salatiele of Mitundu in Lilongwe writing on her face book page, has thanked President Chakwera for honoring Dr. Saulosi Chilima with a national Memorial service describing this event as a meaningful achievement that shall live in the memories of people for years.
Salatiele, has however, questioned the podium where President Chakwera disclosed of naming the road in Lilongwe to honor Dr. Chilima arguing that this announcement would have been made on the day of opening the road and not on the SKC Memorial Service.
“Many Malawians will be thinking that politics has played a part in the naming of the road linking Chakwera going to the Chikangawa forest for political agenda,” she said.
