The main opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has expressed dissatisfaction with the reason given by the Malawi Congress Party (MCP)-led coalition government to shift parliamentary debate on the report on the plane crash.

On Friday morning, the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (BFU) released its interim report on the circumstances surrounding the tragic aircraft accident that claimed the life of former Vice President, Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima, and either other productive citizens, including the former First Lady Patricia Shanil Dzimbiri.

On wreckage and impact information, the interim report states, among others, that the airplane was not equipped with a Cockpit Voice Recorder or a Flight Data Recorder as these recording devices were not required by relevant aviation regulations. It also adds that the air navigation service in Lilongwe had no recorded radar data of the two flights on the day of the accident.

The navigation system Garmin Aera 760 had recorded position data (GPS position and altitude above time). The BFU read out the data. In addition to the data of the accident flight, position data of flights from 7 March 2024 onwards could be saved. The recording of the accident flight began at 0846:48 hrs at the apron of the departure airport and ended at 1016:14 hrs in the immediate vicinity of the accident site. The software “Garmin Basecamp” was used to access the internal memory. It had stored “waypoints” and “flight plans” of users. The Diagnostics Page was also analysed. It was determined that the GPS had switched off automatically about 2:45 hours after the aircraft’s impact (time of the accident), due to low battery power,” it reads in part.

The interim report further states that the radio communications between the flight crew and the air navigation service units at Lilongwe were not recorded. Radio communications between the flight crew and the Flight Information Service (FIS) were also not recorded.

Immediately they got hold of it, lawmakers on the opposition side demanded that a resolution be passed in the National Assembly to allow them to debate on the contents of report.

But the government side, through the Minister of Transport and Public Works Jacob Hara, objecting, arguing it was not too early.

Hara said the MPs will be given time to debate the matter once BFIU submits its final report.

But DPP spokesperson Shadric Namalomba, speaking to journalists after the deliberations, expressed fear that the MCP-led coalition government could tamper with the report in between.

“This is a matter of national importance. Our fear is that they would want to sugar-coat the report thereby rendering its useless to Malawians who deserve to know the truth behind that accident,” said Namalomba.

Meanwhile, Malawians have expressed mixed reactions to the contents of the interim report, with others smelling foul play while those in the government claim this was a natural accident.

One of the country’s revered legal practitioner, Khumbo Bonzoe Soko, writing on his Facebook page soon after the report was made public, observed that the interim report “glaringly does not say anything about what brought the plane down”.

Soko further observed that the report shows, however, an erratic flight path at varying altitudes, between 9:50 Hrs and 10:16, the time of impact.

“There was no ‘May day’ or distress call from the Crew to air traffic control. This would mean that despite the obvious challenges, they did not observe anything worth communicating to ATC. Otherwise, they would have mentioned it during their 10:12 conversation with Air Traffic control. The aircraft had no flight data recorder or cockpit voice recorder. So we will never know the conversations that the crew had with each other in the minutes leading to the crash. And some other performance related data will simply not be there for further analysis.

“The aircraft also did not have a functioning ’emergency locator transmitter’ because the battery expired in 2004. The spare parts were apparently not available. And we had no budget for them anyway. Clearly, we had no business putting a Vice President on such a substandard aircraft. Curiously, the plane crashed 700 metres away from a settlement. And no one heard a thing. Or reported a thing. Until 24 hours later. What really happened here? Mwina tidikire the Final Report. So as we sat at Ralph’s funeral, at 10:16, our friend had already perished. Ine am still crying mwee. SKC deserved a better end,” ended his reaction Soko.

In his analysis, political activist Charles Govati said the interim report from BFU strongly supports the theory that this plane crash was not a mere accident, but a meticulously orchestrated assassination.

Govati said the erratic flight patterns, communication failures, absence of critical data recording devices, and controlled crash site selection indicate a high level of planning and execution.

“The perpetrators likely had significant insider knowledge and access to sophisticated technology, which enabled them to carry out the assassination with precision and effectiveness. The combination of these factors suggests that the assassination was carried out by professionals with extensive resources and expertise, aiming to avoid detection and manipulate the investigation to their advantage,” he said.