President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwerahas been exonerated from any involvement in the June 10 plane crash which killed his former Vice President, Saulos Klaus Chilima and eight others.
The 18-member Commission of Inquiry which he instituted late October has found out the accident was largely caused by poor weather which in turn affected navigation of the plane by the Malawi Defence Force (MDF) pilots.
The report reads “The Commission’s main findings are that the probable cause of the accident was a combination of human and environment factors. The Commission found out that the weather, on 10thJune, 2024, at Nthungwa, where the accident occurred, was very bad leading to disorientation of the pilots.”
The weather narrative has been fully corroborated by some key information that was given to the Commission by Chilima’s officials who remained in Lilongwe.
“The Secretary to the Vice President, Dr. Sikwese gave evidence that he communicated, via WhatsApp text with the late Vice President while the MAF-T03 was in flight between 09:30 and 10:07 hours. He stated that his last message, sent at 11:10 hours was however never delivered. The last message was requesting the late Vice President to consider returning to Lilongwe as there were indications that there was severe weather in Mzuzu,” the report says.
Another piece of evidence came from Chilima’s Special Assistant on Media, Winnie Nyondo, who made reference to a text message she received from his Aide-de-Camp late Chisomo Chimaneni.
The message read, “Too much turbulence.” She later posted this message on her Facebook Account. She indicated that this was not the first time that the ADC and other members travelling with the late Vice President in an aircraft had communicated while in flight.”
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