When the gleaming pecan casket bearing the remains of Vice President Saulos Chilima finally touched the base of his grave, slightly after 13:45 Monday, it marked the final act of the fallen politician’s departure from the living.
But several people who eulogised him at the burial ceremony talked of a man whose legacy will linger on in Malawi.
The lowering of Chilima’s casket into the grave at Nsipe in Ntcheu District was a sombre procedure, escorted by the phrase ‘from dust we came, to dust we return’, uttered by Chikwawa Diocese Bishop Peter Musikuwa.
Before that moment, Malawi Defence Force (MDF) soldiers folded the Malawi flag cloth that had draped the fallen vice president’s coffin and handed it to his widow Mary and children Sean and Elizabeth.
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“The flag is a symbol of national pride. The Vice President served under this flag and presenting it to the family signifies the nation’s gratitude for the late vice president’s contributions to Malawi’s development and progress,” MDF spokesperson Major Kelvin Mlelemba, who was directing the ceremony, said.
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Sad faces and watery eyes accompanied the casket as it was being lowered into Chilima’s final resting place—an end to a life many described as illustrious and well-lived.
The hymn ‘God be with you, till we meet again’ accompanied the process of burying the body.
A 19-gun salute had commenced the moment the casket was leaving for the graveyard and ended at the point when it had touched the ground in the grave.
Chilima’s legacy was palpable in the eulogies and tears of thousands of people he had touched in different ways.
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“He was a dedicated public servant, a passionate leader, a humble individual. He has left an indelible mark in the lives of many people,” family member Ben Chilima eulogised the late Vice President at the gravesite.
The outpouring of grief from all over the country has been viewed as a symbol of how much Chilima was loved by Malawians and his family.
Earlier in the day, before actual burial time, several people delivered their eulogies and converged on one point: that the man whose physical body Malawi was seeing for the last time had dedicated himself to the service of his country.
At every corner at the house of mourning, portraits of the late vice president exhibiting different tasks, such as visiting areas struck by disasters, participating in a Ngoni cultural event and addressing public gatherings, were placed.
Inkosi ya Makosi Goman V of the Maseko Ngonis, where Chilima belonged to, said the fallen Vice President was a peace-loving man who united people.
Gomani said the Maseko Ngonis were grieving not only because Chilima was a respected leader, but also a trusted adviser as one of his Impis.
“His passing has left a huge void in our lives, but his memory will forever be in our hearts,” the paramount chief mourned.
During the burial ceremony, the Ngonis sang and thumped their feet on the ground as part of their traditional way of celebrating the life of one of them.
On the other hand, the Catholic Church, which described Chilima as a very devout member, conducted its rites and said their farewell prayers led by the bishops.
The atmosphere turned more solemn when soldiers left the grave and Goodwill Funeral Home workers moved forward to remove materials that had been holding the casket before it was lowered into the grave.
In their grieving, some people could be heard asking whether Chilima had, indeed, departed from their midst.
The afternoon turned more emotional when Chilima’s widow Mary walked forward, weak at the knees and looking weary from days of grieving, and laid a wreath on her late husband’s grave.
In her church attire, she knelt before the grave, tears welling up in her eyes, and said a short prayer, bidding farewell to her husband.
He children Sean and Elizabeth followed with their wreath before other family members paid their very final respects with the different assortment of flowers.
President Lazarus Chakwera and First Lady Monica Chakwera laid a wreath at 14:19 before others, including former heads of State, had their turn at the grave.
Chilima died alongside eight others after a plane he was flying in crashed in Chikangawa Forest in Mzimba on Monday last week.
The miliary aircraft was on its way back to Kamuzu International Airport after it had failed to land in Mzuzu.
The Vice President was going to attend the burial ceremony of former minister of Justice Ralph Kasambara, who had died four days earlier and was buried in his home in Nkhata Bay District.
Others who died together with Chilima are former first lady Patricia Shanil Dzimbiri, Ministry of Foreign Affairs deputy chief of staff Abdul Lapukeni, Chilima’s medical officer Dan Kanyemba, guard commander Lukas Kapheni and aide-de-camp Chisomo Chimaneni.
Operators of the aircraft, a Dorner 228, pilot-in-command Colonel Owen Sambalopa, second-in-command Major Flora Selemani- Ngwinjili and engineer Major Wallace Aidini also died in the crash.
Meanwhile, calls are growing for government to conduct a thorough investigation into the tragedy so that the nation knows what exactly happened.
