By Vincent Gunde
The International media, First Post Africa, says the Germany Aviation experts who were in Malawi investigating the cause of the Germany made plane which crashed in the Chikangawa forest last year carrying the Vice President Dr. Saulosi Chilima and eight others, has implicated the Army.
First Post Africa said details are pointing to negligence by the highest levels of the Malawi Defense Force (MDF) to have contributed to the plane crash where all the 9 people on board including the Vice President Dr. Chilima died.
In the Germany preliminary report released on the investigations, the pilot was unfit to fly the aircraft and the plane itself was not airworthy, its certification expired saying the maintenance records have gone unresolved.
In the aircraft, the battery expired in 2004, there was no flight data or voice recorders and this hampered the investigations saying despite the red flag raised on the aircraft, MDF continued to use it for high profile mission including carrying top government officials.
The International Media said the Report strongly suggested that the tragedy which killed the country’s Vice President Dr. Saulosi Chilima and eight others, in the Chikangawa forest on the 10th June, 2024, was preventable.
It said the findings by the Germany Aviation experts have sparked outrage across the country with growing calls for independent inquiry and criminal accountability saying pressure is mounting on President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera to dismiss MDF Commander General Dr. Paul Velentino Phiri and launch full audit of military Aviation operations.
In the Report, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) Groups in Malawi and Aviation experts are demanding reforms and civilian oversight saying if the findings are true, blood of the Vice President Dr. Chilima and eight others, will be in the hands of those who ignored the warning.
Social media contributor Mrs. Elizabeth Kaliza Banda of Area 51 in Lilongwe, says the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) is to blame for taking a hand in the killing of Dr. Chilima and eight others, because of conflicting statements from President Chakwera, Army Commander and Minister of Information.
Kaliza said the Ntcheu Memorial Service for the departed Chikangawa souls proved it all that opposition parties have ganged up to demand answers from the MCP and President Chakwera on the death of the 9 innocent souls.
She said if the MCP continues to ignore independent inquiry as in the Germany Report, all 21 million plus citizen’s fingers will be pointing at the MCP for killing the departed souls in the Chikangawa forest warning the MCP, that it will get a tough ride from 10th June to 16th September, 2025 elections as the demand for answers will be growing in their campaign rallies.
“By holding a Memorial Service for the nine departed souls in the Chikangawa forest without the surviving families, this has increased the peoples’ thinking that the MCP is hiding the truth in the Chikangawa mysterious plane crash,” said Kaliza.
