Vice-President's widow calls for inquiry into plane crash

Mary Chilima, the widow of Malawi’s late Vice-President Saulos Chilima, has called for a special investigation into the plane crash that claimed her husband’s life in June. Malawi24 reports that in an emotional post on Facebook written in Chewa, she asked for help to lobby for an independent commission of inquiry. She said she needed answers about what had happened between 10 June when the plane vanished from the radar and the following day when its wreckage was found. No one survived the crash, during a return trip from the burial of a former Justice Minister Ralph Kasambara. In August, the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation released a preliminary report which found that the plane was not adequately equipped for the trip, but didn't explain what led to the crash. The late Chilima joined the government from the business sector when invited to become Peter Mutharika's deputy in 2014. He broke ranks with Mutharika to form a coalition with eight other parties to defeat Mutharika in a rerun of the presidential election in 2020. Chilima would then become Vice-President under Lazarus Chakwera. In next year's elections, he was due to challenge for the top job. Various groups and individuals, including the Human Rights Defenders Coalition, have been advocating for a thorough and transparent investigation.