Aircraft carrying Malawi's Vice President goes missing

Lilongwe. A military aircraft carrying Malawi's vice president Saulos Chilima has been reported missing after it failed to make a landing Monday morning, the government said.

"All efforts by aviation authorities to make contact with the aircraft since it went off the radar have failed thus far," reads a statement, signed by the Secretary to the President and Cabinet for the Government of Malawi, Ms Colleen Zamba.

The plane, which took off just after 9:00 am local time (0700 GMT), was carrying 51-year-old Chilima and nine others.

President Lazarus Chakwera has ordered regional and national forces to conduct an "immediate search and rescue operation to locate the whereabouts of the aircraft", the statement said.

According to the government statement, the Malawi Defense Force Aircraft carrying Mr Chilima and nine others failed to make its scheduled landing at Mzuzu Airport in the country's northern region at 10:02 AM.

With failure by aviation authorities to make contact with the Aircraft since it went off the radar, the statement reads, the Commander of the Malawi Defense Force, General Valentino Phiri, has since informed President Chakwera of the incident.

Chakwera, who was due to travel to the Bahamas for a working visit, has since cancelled his trip.

In 2022, Chilima was stripped of his powers when he was arrested and charged with graft over a bribery scandal involving a British-Malawian businessman.

Last month, a Malawian court dropped the charges after Chilima attended several court appearances.

Born on February 12, 1973, Saulos Klaus Chilima is an economist and politician.

He assumed the office of the Vice President of Malawi on 28 June 2020, winning the majority alongside presidential candidate Lazarus Chakwera.

Chilima also served as the Minister of Economic Planning and Development, as well as Head of Public Sector Reforms, a position he also previously held under the administration of former president Peter Mutharika.

Before joining politics, Chilima held key leadership positions in various multinational companies including Unilever, Coca-Cola and Airtel Malawi, where he rose to become Chief Executive Officer.

In February 2014, Chilima was announced as the running mate of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Peter Mutharika for the May 2014 presidential election.

Chilima later left the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to form the United Transformation Movement (UTM), and contested in the nullified 2019 general election.