The family of late Saulos Chilima, who until his death was the country’s vice president, has snubbed government plans to hold the memorial service at Nthungwa in Chikangawa forest, Mzimba.
Chilima, former first lady Shanil Dzimbiri and seven others were on board an MDF plane Dornier 228 MAFT03 from Lilongwe to Mzuzu Airport when it crashed in Chikangawa on June 10 2024.
There were differences on the memorial service planning as government opted for Nthungwa while the Chilima family settled for Nsipe, where he was buried.
The family representative, Ben Chilima said following discussions with government officials on Tuesday, they made it known that they will proceed with the Nsipe program, as all preparations were complete.
“They [government] announced that there was that proposal of a special event at Nthungwa by government and asked for our plans because they heard that we will be at Nsipe.
“We told them that we have been planning the Nsipe event for the past three months and it is now fixed. So, it’s not a reasonable thing to change at the last minute and we will proceed. Let government continue with other plans, whether at Nthungwa or any other place,” Chilima told The Nation Newspaper
Minister of Information and Digitilisation Moses Kunkuyu said there have been consultations with all concerned families and national
“Few details still remain before we make a final statement from government. We want to make sure that as Malawians we honour the departed in a very inclusive manner,” he said.
