LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The Human Rights Consultative Committee (HRCC) has expressed cautious support for Parliament’s planned investigation into the 2024 plane crash that claimed the life of vice President President Saulos Klaus Chilima and eight others while warning that the process may fall short of public expectations without independent technical expertise.
Vice President Saulos Chilima and nine other people were killed when the military aircraft crashed in Chikangawa Forest on June 10, 2024 as they travelled to attend the funeral of former Attorney General Ralph Kasambara in nkhatabay.
In an interview with Maravi Post on Tuesday,HRCC board Chairperson Robert Mkwezalamba said the decision to assign the task to Parliament may best be justified by the Executive, particularly given the highly politicised nature of the tragedy at the time it occurred.
He noted that parliamentary committees comprise members from both ruling and opposition parties, a factor that could enhance public trust and acceptability of the findings among Malawians.
“One consideration may be that parliamentary committees bring together all political parties, and therefore their findings may be seen as more balanced,” Mkwezalamba observed.
He stressed that despite the financial cost, undertaking the investigation is necessary to bring closure to the nation, as some critical details were not fully clarified in previous reports by the Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU) and other inquiries.
However, Mkwezalamba questioned whether Parliament possesses the technical capacity required to uncover the most crucial aspects of the tragedy namely, what exactly happened and who may have been responsible.
“Malawians want to know whether this was a normal accident or it was deliberately caused,”
“Such findings demand a thorough technical analysis of the aircraft’s specifications, its navigational capabilities, and its condition at the time! Parliament does not have that expertise beyond what the BFU already provided,” he said.
According to HRCC, Parliament may be limited to reviewing existing reports and identifying possible administrative or procedural lapses. These could include actions by officials who managed the aircraft at the holding bay in Zomba, cleared it for take-off, coordinated the search and rescue mission, communicated information to the public and the then sitting President, or handled critical materials such as the aircraft’s black box.
Mkwezalamba said that, ideally, government should have engaged independent external experts to conduct a fresh inquiry whose findings could be compared with previous reports. Without such independent analysis, he warned, disagreements within parliamentary committees could undermine the credibility of the outcome.
“There is a real risk that Malawians may reject the findings if they do not align with what they were led to believe,” he said, referring to claims made during political campaigns that the crash was not accidental.
“If the conclusion contradicts those expectations, the investigation may be viewed as a costly exercise that failed to deliver what people anticipated.”
HRCC has since urged government to approach the matter strategically to avoid reopening divisions over a tragedy that many Malawians had begun to accept as a normal accident.
“As a nation, we must ensure that any further probe genuinely promotes truth and closure.
“Otherwise, we risk reopening wounds without resolving them,” Mkwezalamba said. “