By Wezzie Gausi:
Civil society organisations (CSOs) have joined Mary, who is widow to former vice president Saulos Klaus Chilima, in calling on the government to institute an independent commission of inquiry into the death of those who died in a military plane crash in Chikangawa Forest.
Sunday, Mary took to her official Facebook page, where she asked for the institution of a commission of inquiry into the death of Chilima and eight others.
The nine died on June 10 this year in a Malawi Defence Force plane that crashed in the Northern Region-based forest.
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In a post, Mary said the inquiry would enable the family to get details of what led to the plane crash.
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“I am asking everyone who is touched to help me by asking for another independent investigation into the plane crash so that we should be able to know what happened on June 10 and 11,” she said.
Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) Chairperson Gift Trapence concurred, saying Malawians have had countless questions on issues pertaining to the plane crash.
He said justice had to prevail to members of the bereaved families and Malawians who have been wondering about what really happened.
“These calls have been made before by many stakeholders. Bereaved families and Malawians have the right to know full details and accounts of what really happened in this tragedy. Government should respect the wishes of the bereaved families and Malawians. We have had commissions of inquiries instituted before, why not this time around?
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HRDC is, therefore, calling upon the President [Lazarus Chakwera] to institute the commission of inquiry to make sure there is accountability [and] fairness in knowing the full details of what happened in this tragedy. Malawians and [members of] bereaved families have a right to know,” Trapence said.
Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency Executive Director Willy Kambwandira said it was within the family’s and Malawians’ right to demand a commission of inquiry if they were not satisfied with findings of the preliminary investigation report.
He said the problem was that the government had not been proactive in providing information to the public on the plane crash so much that Malawians had to force the government to make the report public.
“This erodes public trust in the report but also raises serious questions regarding the credibility of the report. It is very important for the authorities to demonstrate the highest levels of transparency. It is Malawians who are demanding the inquiry; as such, the government must yield to the demands of the family and Malawians.
“Again, considering that there seems to be conflicting information on what the authorities were updating Malawians prior to the plane crash and what the report says, this is why Malawians are demanding more information,” Kambwandira said.
Meanwhile, government official spokesperson Moses Kunkuyu has said, as a general response to the call for a commission of enquiry, people must know that any commission of enquiry, whether called by government or any organisation, would need other experts’ input to aid their enquiry.
He said a commission of enquiry without expert autopsy reports, an enquiry without aviation experts’ technical reports, an enquiry without mechanical and maintenance record of the aircraft from the owners would mark a departure of international standards.
“Government appreciates the grief that would be rekindled after visiting that site and the renewed desire to hear more about the incident. We are in touch with the Chilima family and we will continue engaging with them on this and other issues,” Kunkuyu said.
He added that the full investigation report was not yet out.
“Now here we are, the only independent investigation report is not yet out. Would any commission of enquiry [be] complete without such a report?” Kunkuyu queried.
Recently, German investigators released a preliminary report on the death of Chilima and eight others.
The others are former first lady Patricia Shanil Dzimbiri, Abdul Lapukeni, Lucas Kapheni, Chisomo Chimaneni, Dan Kanyemba, Colonel Owen Sambalopa, Major Flora Selemani and Major Aidin, who are Malawi Defence Force (MDF) personnel who were operating the ill-fated plane.
