Chakwera doesn’t want to testify, warns crash probe risks becoming ‘political theatre’
Malawi’s opposition has launched a stinging attack on the parliamentary inquiry investigating the fatal Chikangawa plane crash, accusing organisers of politicising the process after reports emerged that former President Lazarus Chakwera and former Minister of Information and Digitalisation Moses Kunkuyu could be summoned to testify.
The attack came in a memorandum dated 31 August 2026, addressed to the Right Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly from the Office of the Leader of the Opposition Simplex Chithyola Banda, expressing “serious concern” over the direction the inquiry appeared to be taking.
The memorandum notes that on 26 August 2026, Nation Publications Limited reported under the headline “Chakwera May Testify in Plane Crash Inquiry,” before Capital FM followed on 28 August with a report suggesting Kunkuyu could also be called – particularly in connection with the aircraft’s black box.
Crucially, the opposition points out, both reports attributed the information to the chairperson of the inquiry, Walter Nyamilandu Manda.
The Leader of the Opposition did not hold back in outlining concerns over the reported plans, warning that such moves risk transforming an important national inquiry into a platform for political score-settling.
“We find these developments deeply troubling because they risk turning an important national inquiry into a platform for political witch-hunting,” the memorandum states.
“The people of Malawi expect the inquiry to establish the truth about the tragic plane crash not to become a political theatre where former political leaders are dragged before an inquiry without a clearly demonstrated connection to the circumstances of the accident.”
The opposition argues that the proposed involvement of a former president and former Cabinet minister raises serious questions about where the inquiry is heading, insisting that if the genuine objective is to establish what happened to the aircraft, focus should instead remain on aviation experts, flight records, technical evidence, communication records and eyewitnesses.
The inquiry is investigating the circumstances surrounding the crash of the Malawi Defence Force Dornier aircraft, which went down in Nthungwa Forest near Chikangawa on 10 June 2024, killing former Vice-President Saulos Chilima and eight others.
Neither the Office of the Speaker nor inquiry chairperson Walter Nyamilandu Manda had issued a public response to the memorandum at the time of publication.