Inside the Inquiry: A Deep Dive into Saulos Chilima’s Tragic Death

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There is a saying in Chichewa that goes “imfa sithawika (you can’t escape death),” that was my initial thought when reading the report by the Commission of Inquiry of the death of Malawi’s Vice President Saulos Chilima and eight others on June 10^th, 2024. Death was on his doorstep, and there was no way of escaping it.

The Commission first presented the report on the inquiry to the public on the 14^th December through a reading, and just recently made available a pdf version. The Commission of Inquiry was appointed by President Chakwera on the 25^th of October to establish the probable cause of the accident. The Commissioners immediately hit the ground running. Although initially 19 commissioners took the oath, 2 bowed out almost immediately after operations started. We shall discuss this later.

Now, Malawians, and most importantly, the bereaved families have been presented a report that shares what might have happened on that cold morning. Whether the report has been able to get the results of its intentions will be discussed in this blog post.

A “here you go” Commission of Inquiry

During the funeral processions of those that died on this tragic accident, families made calls for the government to conduct an inquiry to give them closure. Such calls were mostly echoed during Saulos Chilima’s funeral. His family, colleagues, and diplomats requested for the same. This was also a topic often discussed by the public, evident mostly on social media.

Everyone wanted to understand what had happened on the morning of June 10th that had led to the death of the Vice President of the land. This was not just about providing closure for the families, but the country as a whole. That tragedy had brought trauma, and everyone wanted to find a path to their healing.

Unfortunately, that was never the case. Business continued as usual, and instead political figures started using the tragedy to gain political points from the people. The government remained quiet, and continued like the Second Citizen had just not fallen from the sky to his death.

In September, Saulos Chilima’s widow, Mary Chilima, posted a picture on her Facebook where she pleaded with President Chakwera to institute a Commission of Inquiry on the death of her husband and the eight others. Several Civil Society Organisations backed her, but again nothing tangible came from the government until the October 25^th when the President appointed the Commission.

I could speculate and say that perhaps the President had waited until the country had all accepted the tragedy before commissioning the inquiry. However, to a layman, taking this long to establish the cause of death of your Vice President is not only frowned upon, but could also be seen as an afterthought.

2 Commissioners Resigned!

The Executive Director of the Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives, Sylvester Namiwa, resigned from the Commission on the 31^st October. In his statement, he said that his departure from the Commission was due to the other Commissioners agreeing that public testimonies were not ideal.

When he initially resigned, I was in awe of his decision. I too, at the time, thought public testimonies would have been the most ideal route in order to dispel any foul play. However, after reading the report, I agree with the Commissioners’ agreement from not wanting public testimonies.

One has to remember what happened during the inquiry of the death of Robert Chasowa. When those that wanted to testify were notified that there would be public testimonies, most of them backed out for their fear of their lives. This inquiry was way bigger than that of Chasowa and so much was at stake.

However, the words of Namiwa were enough to spell doubt on the report before it even came out. Through his statement, the public were made to believe that something was intentionally being hidden. Hence, the report being seen as one meant to whitewash the President.

Inside the Inquiry Report

Imfa Siyithawika

When death is on your doorstep, you cannot fool it. The inquiry report, without meaning to, definitely did a great job proving these words true. On June 9th, Saulos Chilima was just returning from his Korea trip. His flight was making a layover at Chileka International Airport where he had intended to meet Late Ralph Kasambara’s widow and offer his condolences. This was because the remains of Kasambara would be flown from Blantyre to Mzuzu and then proceed to his home village in Nkhatabay by road.

Unfortunately, due to delays at the Church, Chilima ended up leaving boarding his flight to Lilongwe before the Kasambara family made it to Chileka. The next best idea was to have his wife represent him at the funeral procession in Nkhatabay. However, Mary had a paper to submit in fulfilment of her PhD. This left him no choice but to decide to go to the funeral himself.

Clear indications of miscommunications between the Offices of the President and the Vice President

In the inquiry report, it is stated that the Minister of Local Government, Richard Chimwendo Banda, was the first nomination to be the Government representative at Ralph Kasambara’s funeral. Due to Chilima missing Kasambara’s wife at the airport, the Secretary to the Vice President communicated to the Secretary of the President and Cabinet, Colleen Zamba that the Chilima had decided to go to the funeral, and due to his rank in the cabinet, would be the Government’s representative instead.

Colleen Zamba went on to communicate to the President that the “Vice President” would be the Government representative. The morning of June 10^th, she got a call from Harry Mkandawire, the current Minister of Defence that the President had communicated with him that he would be representing the Government at the funeral. According to Zamba, it was her belief that President might have thought that her saying the “Vice President” would have made him think that she meant the Vice President of the ruling Malawi Congress Party.

She goes on to say that it was because at the time, he did not know that the Vice President of the Malawi was back in the country, hence the confusion. However, to a reader like myself, who saw different headlines before the demise of Chilima about the fallout between the First and Second Citizens of the country. Assuming the term “Vice President” meant the VP of the party and not the guy you are in alliance with is diabolical in a way.

Miscommunication Leading by example

While reading the report, there are many instances I noticed how bad communication is even in the executive position. Putting that aside, we also have to look at the leadership that is in place by their actions.

One of the most prominent issues before the crash was the procurement of the Dornier 228 aircraft. As per their procurement procedure, a request was supposed to be made to the Office of the President. After it was signed off by the President, was the request to be forwarded to the Malawi Defence Force. However, in this instance, and a couple of instances before that, the Office of the Vice President had bypassed the OPC and requested directly from the MDF.

While the officers from the Office of the Vice President shared that there had been a policy change, no evidence was provided to prove this. Plus a denial from Colleen Zamba about the policy change paints the late Saulos Chilima and his office as being rebels who did not want to conform to the procedures.

However, it is also concerning that the MDF would go on processing the request of procurement of the aircraft without the request bearing the President’s signature or stamp. As far as procurement procedures go, we all know that once an authorising officer’s signature is missing, that procurement request is returned until all required signatures are evident.

While the Commissioners did make the following recommendation to the Office of the President

The OPC should develop clear guidelines on the manner of procurement of military equipment for non-military missions, especially where civilians are likely to use the military equipment for the carriage of persons or goods. The guidelines must be made available to the public and must be updated from time to Tim. There is need to ensure that the set guidelines are complied with prior releasing the equipment to the requesting party.

The human and environmental factors as causes of crash

The words that have been repeated throughout the report are that the Dornier 228 crashed due to human and environmental factors. The Commission did a good job indicating these factors and how they played a major role.

The human factors were evident in the pilots not requesting the weather report for the day before they started off. This was highlighted as one of the major reasons of the crash. The environmental factors were the harsh weather that comes with June which made it hard for them to fly.

One must wonder however, why the media has decided to bring forth an agenda that makes it seem like the Commissioners were blaming Major Selemani for the crash when they only highlighted what the pathologists stated, highlighted from the evidence from the Police and the MDF.

Striking that, one must also wonder why the Commissioners were quick to rule out any technical issues with the aircraft. From the report, it is evidenced from the trip that Kasambara’s wife and her family took as they traveled to the north, that there was so much turbulence from the plane. A vehicle that has been serviced doesn’t always mean it is fault free.

The Commissioners hurriedly declared other factors without leaving room for technical factors. Such would have been left open until the report from Germany was presented in May 2025. You can read the interim report here.

Who gets fired?

I remember opening a picture on one of the groups on WhatsApp. In the picture was a lifeless body of the late Saulos Chilima in his briefs, kneeling with his head on the ground, rosary in hand. I wondered how such a picture had gotten into circulation when the search party was being led by the MDF and Police.

It was made clear then that in this age of social media, even those charged with security want to be the first to break the news on social media to gain leverage of some sort. I had hoped that such report would highlight the misconduct that was done by either one of the security organisations.

It was made clear that the army officers were the ones that brought sanity to the crash area. They, however, danced around the misconduct by the police officers who were the ones that were in the frontlines in taking pictures of the corpses and sharing them on social media. This was evidenced in the following statement

The Commission noted that most of the pictures in circulation were graphic in nature. The Commission took notice of the congruence between the pictures that were taken by the Police and those that were in circulation, both in mainstream media and social media. The Commission observed that the pictures in circulation did not respect the privacy and dignity of the deceased persons.

However, this is what was recommended

e) The Police should immediately investigate the leakage of the pictures at the accident scene and hold to account those responsible for the leakage. Further, since the leakage may also have emanated from the Police themselves, the Commission recommends that the Director of the Independent Complaints Commission established under the Police Act (Cap. 13.01) should also commence investigations on the Police accordingly;

f) The Commission further recommends that the Police must ensure that regulation of both the mainstream and social media must be enforced and that people propagating misinformation, false and misleading information must be held to account.

It is shocking that six months after the tragedy, no investigations have been done on who leaked those pictures in the Police force. Well, it is not really shocking if we are being fair. It is, however, sad that cases such as a person being called ‘Rambo” are quickly investigated while such important issues are shoved on the side because police officers are the offenders.

Other important issues

On matters of recommendations

The recommendations made to the Malawi Defence Force, the Malawi Air Force, and the Malawi Police Services are that they upgrade their equipment, that they should be fully equipped with aerial, ground, and marine equipment. That they should be adequately funded for proper maintenance of the aircraft, payment for equipment insurance (as the Dornier was not insured, how shocking), etc.

While these recommendations hold ground, it is important to remember that such funding often is pocketed by greedy humans. Zuneth Sattar, a person of interest in the biggest corruption case involving the procurement of arms and other equipment for the MDF, has a case that shows no future.

At a point, the late Saulos Chilima was implicated with Sattar which led to his official duties being stripped until they ruling was given. In May this year, the case against Chilima was dropped.

It should be noted that such funding is never taken for the good of the masses, however, is used to enrich a few.

Realisation of the gravity of the situation at 3pm

It is in the inquiry report that the President was first told about the missing aircraft at 11am on June 10^th. Another update was given to him at 1pm that a search party was deployed to look for the aircraft that was carrying his Vice President, and a former First Lady of the country.

At 3pm, another update was given to the President, and that is when he instructed the Minister of Health and the Inspector of Police to go to the residence of the Vice President to break the news to the Mary Chilima.

I find it astonishing that in all this, they did not find the importance of having the First Lady, Madam Monica Chakwera take on the responsibility of being the one to break the news to the her Second Lady. I would assume that a message from her would be more comforting, accompanied later by a phone call from the President himself. Perhaps they did not want to share all the details about it.

However, such instances bring questions of the fallout that the President might have had with his Vice. This is just my speculation anyway.

Of the inquiry in general

The inquiry in general sounds rushed. Well, it was. They only had a month to ensure that they had gotten all facts.

I would argue that taking this inquiry report and comparing it to the report that was issued on the death of Dr Bingu wa Mutharika, this report does not stand on the same pedestal. The inquiry report on Bingu was well thought of, articulated issues well with the intention of answering the hard questions that the public had. This inquiry report however, brings more questions than answers.

That is why we are in the state we are in right now.

It is also a shame that some of the bereaved families had to express through the Commission that they were entangled in runnings with the Police Service in order to receive the gratuity of their late loved one. It is also saddening that the Government did not make any follow-up of some sort to the families after the funerals were concluded.

It shows a lack of humane. Reading that one of the widows had a hard time even getting the death certificate of her husband, and only got assisted when the funeral home stepped in was sad.

What’s next?

During the Christmas Eve Mass at the Limbe Cathedral, Archbishop Msusa shared his dissatisfaction with the inquiry report and its findings. He shared that the actual truth has not been shared yet, and that it will be in time. He shared that there were inconsistencies with what the country was told transpired on that cold morning, and what the pictures showed.

I had made such notes on a blog post, you can read it here.

In a press briefing of Pastors called the “Concerned Clergy” shared their disapproval of Msusa’s comments. They shared that his comments has the possibility of dividing the nation.

My sole question is, What is there to divide when the Nation is already divided?

I recommend that you read the press briefing in your own time, and come with your own opinions on the matter. As always, remember to leave comments below.

You can download the Commission of Inquiry report below