Daud Suleman to reveal what MACRA really knew during Chilima search

Malawi Parliament has summoned the former head of Malawi’s telecoms watchdog to answer explosive questions over what authorities really knew — and when — during the desperate search for Vice-President Saulos Chilima’s missi

ng aircraft.

Daud Suleman, ex-director general of the Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA), has been ordered to appear before the Ad Hoc Committee probing the Chikangawa Forest plane crash this Thursday, according to a letter signed by Joseph Manzi on behalf of the Clerk of Parliament.

And MPs aren’t just after his memories — they want the paper trail. The committee has demanded Suleman hand over every single request, direction and instruction MACRA issued to mobile network operators over the missing aircraft, right down to the exact dates and times.

It’s a demand that could prove explosive, potentially allowing lawmakers to piece together a minute-by-minute account of what unfolded between the moment the Malawi Defence Force aircraft vanished and the grim discovery of its wreckage.

The plane, carrying Chilima, former First Lady Patricia Shanil Dzimbiri and seven others, disappeared on 10 June 2024 while flying from Lilongwe to Mzuzu.

A massive overnight search involving the Defence Force, police and other agencies failed to locate it — until wreckage was finally found the next day in the dense, unforgiving terrain of Chikangawa Forest. All nine people on board were dead.

Now, more than a year on, Parliament wants hard answers on the telecommunications trail behind the search. Crucially, the committee isn’t simply asking whether MACRA was involved — it wants proof: the actual instructions, the exact timings, and what came of them.

The summons throws up a string of uncomfortable questions. What information did MACRA actually seek from mobile network operators? What was available, and when? Was it passed on to the teams desperately combing the forest for survivors? And, perhaps most damningly, were there delays, gaps or breakdowns in how that information was shared or acted upon during those critical hours?

Suleman, who has confirmed he will attend, finds himself in an unenviable position. As the man who ran MACRA at the time of the tragedy, his testimony carries serious weight — and by demanding documents rather than settling for spoken testimony alone, the committee has given itself the ammunition to cross-check his account against records held by telecoms companies and other agencies involved in the search.

The crash triggered a wave of national grief and a formal Commission of Inquiry — but questions over the disappearance, the search operation and the discovery of the wreckage have refused to go away.

This latest summons signals Parliament is now digging deeper than the physical cause of the crash, turning its focus instead to the chain of communication — and potential failures — during the hours the country held its breath.

Suleman’s appearance on Thursday could prove pivotal in finally establishing what role MACRA and the country’s mobile network operators played during those critical, chaotic hours.