The late Vice President of Malawi, Saulos Chilima, will be laid to rest on Monday in his native district of Ntcheu, located 180km south of the capital, Lilongwe.
At 51 years old, Chilima and eight others, including the former president’s ex-wife, perished in a plane crash amid adverse weather conditions in a forested region.
A state service led by President Lazarus Chakwera was held on Saturday to honour the vice president.
Chilima’s party, the United Transformation Movement, expressed concerns over the government’s delayed response and the absence of a transponder on the aircraft.
The political duo of Chilima and Chakwera had made history by successfully challenging the 2019 presidential election results due to irregularities and securing victory in the subsequent rerun—a first in Africa.
Despite an initial agreement for Chakwera to step aside for Chilima in the upcoming election, tensions rose as Chakwera declared his intention to seek re-election.
Chilima had faced corruption charges related to government contracts, which were dropped last month. He had consistently denied these allegations.
Returning from an official trip to South Korea, Chilima’s second term as vice president followed his initial tenure from 2014 to 2019 under President Peter Mutharika.
The search operation for the downed plane saw international support with offers of specialized technology from the U.S., U.K., Norway, and Israel. The U.S. Embassy in Malawi also provided assistance with a Department of Defence aircraft.
Malawi reached out to neighbouring Zambia and Tanzania for aid during this crisis. The country, home to approximately 21 million people, was listed by the World Bank as one of the world’s poorest nations in 2019.
