* Copied to President Lazarus Chakwera; the UN Resident Coordinator in Malawi; Chief Justice; Speaker of the National Assembly
* As well as AU chairperson & all Heads of State as well as all foreign diplomatic missions
* Asks the UN to first declare the plane crash site as a crime scene, and therefore, protected from contamination through internationally delegated military personnel
By Duncan Mlanjira
Alliance for Democracy (AFORD) president Enoch Kamzingeni Chihana has written a petition to the Secretary General of the United Nations António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres calling for it, alongside SADC the African Union (AU) to support in having a proper closure on Monday’s plane crash accident.
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Copied to President Lazarus Chakwera; the UN Resident Coordinator in Malawi; Chief Justice Speaker of the National Assembly; AU chairperson & all Heads of State as well as all foreign diplomatic missions, Chihana asks the UN to first declare the plane crash site “as a crime scene, and therefore, protected from contamination through internationally delegated military personnel”.
Secondly, he is calling on the “SADC, the AU, and international community to do a thorough forensic investigation into the events surrounding the plane crash” that claimed the lives of Vice-President Saulos Chilima and eight others.
And thirdly, Chihana calls for “an urgent constitution of an internationally managed process of the Commission of Inquiry that should form part of the information gathering related to Vice-President Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima’s travel and other related arrangements”.
He enlightens the international community that AFORD “has received with shock, disbelief, and great sadness the news of the passing of Chilima and the eight other distinguished passengers on board the flight”.
“As a Malawian-based Political Party, we take this tragedy as a matter of national concern for it involves a highly politically risky person in the Vice-President of Malawi.
“As AFORD, we feel obliged to call for the above urgent actions for Malawi is under a period of speculation on the events surrounding the death of Vice-President Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima and the other distinguished eight passengers.
“As a peace abiding political Party, it is within our duty to support a process that hinges toward peace and prosperity for our beloved Malawi.
“Our call for a fully internationally supported and managed action as presented above, is key for the nation of Malawi to have full confidence of closure on the plane crash accident.”
Chihana joined the search party on Monday night
Chihana added that the entire National Executive Committee of AFORD; all its structures in all Regions and Districts of Malawi, “together with many peace-loving Malawians, fully support this call for urgent international community support”.
“AFORD, through its delegated representatives, is open to avail itself of this internationally managed action with information on areas of concern surrounding the plane crash, the search operation, and how the communication to the nation was managed.
“We look forward to your response to our urgent call to action and assure you of our highest considerations,” said the petition, that has also been copied to chairperson of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights; Director of Amnesty International; Director of Human Rights Watch; Dean of the Diplomatic Corps; Foreign ambassadors and High Commissioners from the US, European Union; the British; Norwegian; Germany; China and India.
It has also been copied to the United Transformation Movement (UTM); all political parties in Malawi, the civil society organizations; the religious community and all local and international media houses.
The clamour for independent inquiry into Chilima’s plane crash intensifies with calls to involve international aviation experts and just today, June 13, Malawi Law Society (MLS) also called for speedy action by quoting Part VII of the Civil Aviation Act in section 48-49 and Division 22 of the Defence Act — that provides a detailed guideline to facilitate and guide air accident and incident investigation, which MLS recommends “must promptly be resorted to by all stakeholders in order to timely and legally address the legitimate questions arising from this plane crash”.
Bereaved leaders of Chilima’s UTM, which allied with President Lazarus Chakwera’s Malawi Congress Party (MCP) in the 2020 presidential election — fielding a joint ticket with other parties in which is known as Tonse Alliance — is demanding swift answers over the accident, saying “the plane had previously flown to Mzuzu under similar weather conditions”.
The Air Wing Dornier 228-202K, inscribed with the country’s Presidential Seal, first ferried the body of late lawyer and former Cabinet Minister and Attorney General, Ralph Kasambara from Blantyre to Mzuzu on Sunday.
Chilima had just returned on that day from Seoul, Republic of Korea the day before, Sunday June 9, where the Vice-President was delegated by Chakwera to attend the Korea-Africa summit, which was held on June 4 and 5.
On Monday, the plane flew to Kamuzu International Airport to pick up Chilima alongside former First Lady, Shanil Dzimbiri. It left Lilongwe at 09:17hrs for a 45 minutes flight to Mzuzu Airport, about 370 kilometers (230 miles) to the north — but air traffic control are reported to have instructed the pilot not attempt to land and to turn around because of bad weather and poor visibility, as announced by Chakwera on Monday night.
Same plane that carried late Ralph Kasambara
In his address broadcast live on MBC TV, the President said air traffic control lost contact with the aircraft and it disappeared from radar a short while later and he ordered the MDF to immediately mount a search and rescue and by mid-morning, they found the wreckage of the plane with all on board dead.
Chakwera later announced to the nation at noon yesterday of the tragic news and described Chilima as a patriotic citizen who served his country with distinction, and a formidable Vice-President.
UTM regional governor, Stevie Mikaya questions: “Was it a mechanical fault? Did it run out of fuel? We need the truth.”
The UTM also tried to bar Minister of Defence Harry Mkandawire and Homeland Security Minister Ken Zikhale Ng’oma from attending Chilima’s funeral and at the party’s headquarters in the capital, Lilongwe, Mikaya accused the ministers of negligence.
Chilima consoling UTM secretary general Patricia Kaliati after confirming the plane had crashed with all on board dead
“It’s disheartening that the plane crashed at 10:00 am, yet no action was taken to rescue those involved. We believe timely efforts from the ministers could have saved lives,” he is quoted by the media.
UTM Member of Parliament, Chrissie Kanyasho criticised the government’s search efforts for the wrecked plane, which was only found on Tuesday: “When we learned about the crash around 2:00pm, we mobilised to search Chikangawa Forest.
“We found only one military vehicle with nine soldiers searching the entire area, which was inadequate. The search for the Vice-President was handled as if they were looking for a lost goat.”
When announcing the disappearance of the plane on Monday, President Chakwera said he had previously flown on the same aircraft for similar trips and the crew had successfully operated it just hours before the accident.
“And yet, despite the track record of the aircraft and the experience of the crew, something terrible went wrong with that aircraft — sending it crashing down,” he said.
Henry Chingaipe
Meanwhile, The Nation Online quotes governance analyst for Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) Henry Chingaipe from an interview on Tuesday as calling for thorough investigations into the plane crash that must be carried out by independent experts — and preferably foreign ones to help address the conspiracy theories some Malawians are making about the plane accident.
He told the paper that Chilima’s plane crash should be handled with the seriousness it deserves; hence, the call for fully independent foreign air crash investigators such as those from the United Kingdom or United State of America (USA).
“We need proper investigations facilitated by government, but it should be independent. If the independent technical report will match with some of the conspiracy theories we are hearing, then it will lead to further investigations. But, as a country, we are so pathetically low on the State capacity on important issues like these.”
Posting on Facebook, private practice lawyer Khumbo Soko also noted that it is a standard practice in aviation that every plane crash is investigated and urged authorities to ensure that the investigation starts as soon as possible before evidence gets lost or compromised.
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“Any suggestion that calls for an investigation are too early is obviously misplaced or just downright ignorance,” he said on his Facebook post. “These kinds of investigations must be led by people who know what they are doing and have experience.
“I have in mind the NTSB [National Transportation Safety Board], a US federal government agency. We can ask for help.”
The Nation also interviewed, Major General Ian Chirwa (retired), a former Malawi Air Force commander, who said he operated the same plane for over 30 years, but never encountered any major problem with it.
“These are German machines,” he is quoted as saying. “It is a Dornier and I never had any major problem or incident on this aircraft. So, this tragic incident has really taken me down,” he said.
The award-winning media house also contacted Manfred Chaponda, a Malawian aeronautical engineer at Amac Aerospace in Basel, Switzerland, who said there are a number of factors that need to be looked into that might have caused the plane crash.
Among others, included mechanical failure, human error, weather conditions, bird strikes and sabotage or terrorism as well as deliberate acts to bring down the aircraft could be contributing factors.
“Utilising seatbelts, oxygen masks, life vests and other safety gear minimises the impact of the crash, but a thorough investigation is needed to establish what exactly caused this specific crash,” Chaponda told the Nation newspaper.
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Meanwhile, MDF spokesperson Major Emmanuel Mlelemba told the paper that investigations into the plane crash will be communicated at an appropriate time.
“We will update the nation on the direction that is being taken,” he is quoted as saying. “As MDF, we now have to work hand in hand with everyone who is available.”
Addressing the media in Lilongwe yesterday, government spokesperson, Minister of Information & Digitisation Moses Kunkuyu indicated that MDF has been directed to conduct the investigations along with the Department of Civil Aviation and others with expertise.
Kunkuyu (right)
Established through the Civil Aviation Act of 2017, the Civil Aviation Authority consists of six persons appointed by the President, subject to confirmation by the Parliamentary Committee on Public Appointments:
(i) two persons from the aviation industry in Malawi;
(ii) one person of high moral character and integrity in the conduct of public affairs’;
(iii) one legal practitioner, nominated by the Malawi Law Society;
(iv) an economist with qualifications in aviation related economics nominated by a public body of economists; and
(v) one person nominated by the Malawi Tourism Council;
Ex-officio members are:
(i) the Secretary responsible for Transport or his designated representative;
(ii) the Secretary to the Treasury or his designated representative;
(iii) the Secretary responsible for Internal Security or his designated representative;
(iv) the Secretary responsible for Defence or his designated representative; and
(v) the Secretary responsible for Meteorological Authority or his designated representative.
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