“BFU Report Is Wanting”: Justice Minister Questions Findings on Fatal Plane Crash
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Charles Mhango has told Parliament’s ad-hoc committee investigating the military plane crash that the final report produced by the Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU) leaves too many critical questions unanswered and falls short of providing meaningful closure.
Appearing before the committee, Mhango said the BFU’s reporting was “wanting” despite the investigators having conducted their own analysis using Global Positioning System (GPS) data and evidence gathered from flight officers stationed at Mzuzu Airport and Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe.
According to the minister, the BFU report discussed the condition and value of the aircraft and attempted to explain why it had deviated from its original flight path before crashing. However, he argued that the investigators failed to adequately address one of the most troubling aspects of the case—the absence of flight recorders.
Mhango said the BFU should have gone further by establishing whether the aircraft had originally been manufactured without cockpit voice and flight data recorders or whether those devices had been removed after the aircraft was acquired by its owners.
“The BFU did not explain why the plane had no recorders,” he told the committee. “In my opinion, I find the BFU report to be wanting and hard to bring closure.”
The minister also faulted the investigation for failing to determine the precise cause of the crash, saying the report stopped short of answering the central question that bereaved families and the nation have been seeking to understand.
Mhango revealed that the recommendations he eventually made were informed by a review of three separate documents: the interim BFU report, findings from a German organisation involved in the investigations, and the report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry established by former President Lazarus Chakwera, as well as the BFU’s final report.
However, he disclosed that he did not have access to two potentially significant documents—the report prepared by the Malawi Defence Force and another compiled by the Civil Aviation authorities.
The absence of those reports, coupled with what Mhango described as shortcomings in the BFU findings, raises fresh concerns over whether all available evidence was considered and whether the investigation succeeded in answering the many lingering questions surrounding one of the country’s most tragic aviation disasters.
His testimony is likely to intensify scrutiny of the official investigation and fuel renewed calls for greater transparency and accountability, particularly on unresolved issues such as the aircraft’s missing recording equipment, its unexplained deviation from the planned route, and the exact circumstances that ultimately led to the fatal crash.