By IOMMIE CHIWALO
BLANTYRE-(MaraviPost)-The country’s governance watchdog Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) has tabled 11 demands to Parliament’s new inquiry into the June 10, 2024 Chikangawa plane crash, including that former president Lazarus Chakwera explain who told him the aircraft had reached Mzuzu.
The crash killed former vice-president Saulos Chilima and eight others who were traveling to lawyer Ralph Kasambara’s funeral in Nkhata Bay.
In a statement Monday, Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives executive director Sylvester Namiwa said Malawians “expect nothing but the truth” from the 13-member ad hoc committee led by MP Walter Nyamilandu-Manda.
CDEDI commended President Peter Mutharika and Speaker Sameer Suleman for setting up the committee. It dismissed the previous commission of inquiry instituted under the MCP regime as “a sham of a report that failed to help Malawians find closure.”
Namiwa said the Nyamilandu-Manda team had “already hit the ground running” by visiting sites linked to the accident.
11-point submission
CDEDI’s proposals to the committee are:
- Probe Kasambara’s death, saying a police brief on his “sudden death” left “many unanswered questions” and ignored leads pointing to foul play.
- Demand burial video footage to review the “suspicious conduct” of Cabinet ministers who attended. “Noticeably, the ministers spent 99 percent of their time on their phones,” CDEDI claimed.
- Call IG Richard Luhanga to explain whether he will proceed on leave or testify. Luhanga headed police in the Northern Region at the time of the crash.
- Summon the Justice Jabber Alide-led commission to explain where they got information that the deceased’s bodies “had no blood, urine or saliva” and why they did not call Chakwera, MCP secretary general Richard Chimwendo Banda, Information Minister Moses Kunkuyu, MDF chief General Velentino Phiri, and Macra DG Daud Suleman.
- Visit Sunset Mortuary to verify claims that wounds on the deceased were sutured and pictures taken.
- Hear from Madame Mary Chilima, then St. Patrick’s Parish priest Father Zulu, and Mr. Ngwinjiri, husband to the fallen pilot.
- Summon Chakwera to say who told him the plane reached Mzuzu, why he gave “four-hour updates” after announcing the aircraft was missing, and to prove he had a Heads of State meeting in Barbados that day.
- Question former IG Merlyn Yolamu on why police sidelined a medical doctor in the service in favour of a clinical officer.
- Examine signatures on death reports of Chilima and the eight others, and ask Chakwera who certified the deaths before his announcement.
- Review a video clip by Mr. Coled Mkosi which names people allegedly informed of the crash immediately it occurred.
- Demand the black box from Moses Kunkuyu, who “assured the nation that he knew where the aircraft’s black box was.”
CDEDI added that “Nthungwa tower guards, the community around that area, Raiply officials, several police and MDF officers have vital information.”
“Malawians do not expect another waste of time and resources through this probe,” Namiwa said.
He said CDEDI will make a formal detailed submission to the Nyamilandu-Manda committee.
The MDF aircraft crashed in Chikangawa Forest on June 10, 2024, killing all nine on board