(Lilongwe) The party of Malawi’s vice-president, Saulos Chilima, killed this week in a plane crash, called on Thursday for the opening of an investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy.
Mr Chilima died along with eight others on Monday when their military plane, on a domestic flight, crashed in the Chikangawa forest, near Mzuzu, in the northeast of the small southern African country.
His party, the United Movement for Transformation (UTM), joined forces with Lazarus Chakwera’s Congress Party (MCP) for the 2020 presidential election, presenting a joint ticket.
But the alliance that brought the two men to power is under pressure, with UTM leaders demanding answers from the authorities over the accident.
“We demand to know what happened to our leader. The plane had previously flown to Mzuzu in similar weather conditions,” said Stevie Mikaya, regional governor and UTM figurehead.
“Is it a mechanical problem? Did he run out of fuel? We need the truth,” he said.
On Thursday, UTM MPs and executives attempted to prevent the Ministers of Defense, Harry Mkandawire, and Internal Security, Ken Zikhale Ng’oma, from attending Mr. Chilima’s funeral.
At the party headquarters in Lilongwe, the capital, Mr. Mikaya denounced negligence in the organization of relief.
“It is disheartening that the plane crashed at 10am and no action was taken to save those involved. We believe that timely efforts by ministers could have saved lives,” he pointed out.
MP Chrissie Kanyasho also questioned the search carried out to find the wreckage of the plane, discovered on Tuesday.
“When we learned of the accident around 2 p.m., we mobilized to search the Chikangawa forest,” she said. “We only found one military vehicle and nine soldiers searching the entire area, which was insufficient. The search for the vice president was handled as if it were a lost goat.”
Mr Chilima, 51, who perished with eight others, including former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri, will be buried in his home village on Monday.
Initial reports reported 10 deaths, but one of the people on the passenger list ultimately did not board.
Dornier 228-202K went missing on Monday after failing to land at Mzuzu due to bad weather and being ordered to return to Lilongwe.
On Tuesday, President Chakwera said he had already borrowed the aircraft and that it had flown without incident a few hours before the crash, attributing the accident to “something terrible (that) happened.”