By Vincent Gunde
Political activist Bon Kalindo has praised former President and DPP leader Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika for demonstrating that he is a true statesman by ordering DPP Convention delegates and all invited guests to observe a one-minute silence in honor of the departed Vice President Dr. Saulosi Chilima and eight others, who were tragically killed in a plane crash in the Chikangawa forest in Mzimba district on Monday, 10th June, 2024.
Kalindo said Mutharika went to Nsipe in Ntcheu to attend the burial ceremony of Dr. Chilima who made him to be voted out of power in June, 2020 making the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) boasting to be in government without the support of Dr. Chilima and UTM.
He said the same man who was defeated in 2020 surprised many Malawians when he stood up to observe a one-minute silence in honor of Dr. Chilima who at first was his enemy and after his death, he became a friend in need.
Speaking through an audio clip circulating in various social media platforms, Kalindo said it is sad that the whole MCP Convention lasted without honoring the good job Dr Chilima did to the MCP while he was alive.
Kalindo said it is a disputable fact that without Dr. Chilima and UTM, MCP and President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera would not have been elected into government but President Chakwera opened his party’s convention forgetting the name of Dr. Chilima.
He said President Chakwera graced the Ngoni of Mzimba Cultural heritage observing that the whole function lasted without a one-minute silence to honor the life of Dr. Chilima who tragically lost his life in a plane crash in the same district of Mzimba.
The activist has claimed that President Chakwera travelled by road to fro Mzimba without bothering to stop at a place where Dr. Chilima and eight others, were found tragically killed to honor their lives just as other people are doing at Chikangawa forest.
He has observed that Vice President of the Republic Dr. Michael Usi is visiting the Northern Region of Malawi where again he has failed to stop at Chikangawa forest to give respect to Dr. Chilima who was the President of the UTM before he took over as full president of the party.
“Many questions than answers are in the peoples mind with thanks to Professor Mutharika for feeling pain in his heart to give a one-minute silence to Dr. Chilima and eight others,” said Kalindo.
He has appealed to Professor Mutharika that at the time he will be going to the Northern Region of Malawi, he should continue the good job he has started of honoring Dr Chilima and eight others, by stopping at Chikangawa forest to give his respect to the departed souls.
Kalindo has encouraged Professor Mutharika to disregard negative comments which shall come from politicians that stopping at Chikangawa forest will be like advancing his political agenda but joining Malawians in mourning Dr. Chilima and eight others.
