By Burnett Munthali
Former Secretary to the Office of the Vice President, Dr. Luckie Sikwese, told the Parliamentary Ad-hoc Committee on the Chikangawa plane crash that he facilitated requests for the Malawi Defence Force aircraft after returning from South Africa.
He appeared before the committee as part of its inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the crash that claimed the lives of Vice President Saulos Chilima and eight others.
Dr. Sikwese said the Army Commander informed him that the only available aircraft could accommodate a maximum of eight passengers.
The limitation on passenger capacity became a key point of discussion during the hearing.
He also told the committee that Dr. Chilima had expressed his intention to attend the funeral of the late lawyer Ralph Kasambara.
According to Sikwese, the conversation about attending the funeral took place while he and the Vice President were in South Korea on official duty.
The testimony adds to the committee’s efforts to reconstruct the sequence of events leading up to the ill-fated flight.
