LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Brigadier General Dan Kuwali has been rebuked for overshadowing the ongoing Parliamentary Ad-hoc Committee in fresh Chikangawa plane crash inquiry that killed former Vice President Saulos Chilima and eight others with unreasonable temper, anger, emotions when responding to some of the committee’s questions.
Kuwali whom some quarters of the society believed to be the masterminder of the plane crash (according to Ben Chiza Mkandawire) lost his temper while failing to respond to simple questions.
For instance, committee chair Walter Nyamilandu asked him, “When you discover that the plane also included Chilima ternary while earlier you boldly told authorities that the plan wasn’t attainable, so, was your advised ignore or not respected?
Instead just responding, he visible lost temper to chair Nyamilandu.
Social commentators have viewed Kuwali’s attitudes as uncalled for and must be avoided to other witnesses to appear before the committee.
“A parliamentary inquiry is meant to be a place where facts are tested through calm, rigorous questioning. That is why composure matters, especially for witnesses who have held positions of significant responsibility which Kuwali failed miserably.
“Kuwali’s appearance before the Parliamentary Ad-hoc Committee was marked by visible emotion and moments of anger when responding to some of the committee’s questions. Whether those emotions reflected frustration, conviction, or the weight of the matter is something only he can fully explain”, observers Kenneth Bwanali.
The social commentator added, “However, many observers will inevitably ask whether such a level of emotion was appropriate for a senior military officer, academic, and legal scholar. These are roles traditionally associated with discipline, restraint, and measured responses, particularly under intense scrutiny.
“Getting emotional does not automatically mean someone is being dishonest. Equally, remaining calm does not automatically prove credibility. But in a public inquiry into a tragedy that claimed the lives of the Vice President and eight others, the public expects witnesses to assist the process with patience, professionalism, and respect for every question posed”.
Bwanali queries, “The inquiry is ultimately about uncovering the truth. Every witness, regardless of rank or reputation, is there to help the committee establish facts—not to win an argument.
“Should senior public officials and military leaders be held to a higher standard of composure when appearing before such inquiries”.
Echoing the same, a civil rights activist Chimwemwe Mhango rebuked Kuwali’s militant approach on civilian public inquiry.
“Kuwali must respect the inquiry committee. That’s not a barracks which just take silly orders from anyone.
“Going to an inquiry with emotions, tempers, anger, rudeness don’t define intelligence but cowardice. Kuwali is not above anyone or law of the land”, chided Mhango.
This comes barely weeks after the social media was awash with activist Ben Chiza Mkandawire’s video clips allegating that Kuwali, Malawi Defence Force (MDF) Chief, Policy, Strategy and Plans and former Commandant of the National Defence College is a number one suspect in the murder of Chilima and eight others, in the Chikangawa forest on Monday, June 10, 2024.
Mkandawire said for a long time some people have been accusing him of being against Kuwali but the truth was set by former Minister of Defence in the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) government under Reverend Lazarus Chakwera – Harry Mkandawire who implicated him.
He said Kuwali is the masterminder of the lie Chakwera made to the nation that the plane reached Mzuzu and returned to Lilongwe.
Mkandawire alleges that said what is paining him most is that Chilima and Kuwali were good friends just the same as he and Allan Ntata and Allan masterminding his death.
But Kuwali disputed Mkandawire’s claims.
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