REMEMBERING VICE PRESIDENT SAULOS KLAUS CHILIMA
By Joseph Kayira | 1 July 2024
On June 10 2024, death robbed the Malawi nation of a man who so loved his country, so much that he left a lucrative job in the private sector to serve in the public service. Saulos Klaus Chilima or SKC, stunned many when he resigned from the position of managing director at Airtel Malawi Limited to join politics. His courage to join Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to pair with Peter Mutharika in the 2014 presidential election was viewed by many as a risk too high to even consider taking – bearing in mind that at the time, the DPP was an opposition party.
SKC turned out to be the leader this country should have had at the dawn of multiparty politics. His call for Malawi to embrace transformation, public reforms, creation of one million jobs for the youth in a year, and that families should be able to afford three meals a day; that the elderly should get K15,000 per month and that the Malawi passport should cost K15,000 – all point to a leader who was progressive and meant well for his nation. But he happens to be ‘the best president Malawi never had.’
When everyone thought SKC was the last hope for Malawians and that he would probably win the 2025 presidential election, something unusual happened. The plane that carried him and eight others, who included former first lady Shanil Muluzi crashed in Chikangawa forest in Mzimba.
In a national address on June 11, President Lazarus Chakwera said: “And I am deeply saddened and sorry to inform you all that it has turned out to be a terrible tragedy. The search and rescue team has found the aircraft near a hill in the Chikangawa forest, and they found it completely destroyed, with no survivors, as all passengers on board were killed on impact.”
It was news that Malawians did not want to hear. Here was a man who had gone through a lot between 2020 and 2024. SKC’s political journey was not easy. He was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in November 2022 for allegedly receiving ana advantage from British businessman Zuneth Sattar for facilitating awarding of government contracts to Mr Sattar’s companies. He denied any wrong doing. In May this year, the case was discontinued.
Ironically, Chilima campaigned on a ticket to root out corruption. His supporters believed that the corruption allegations were politically motivated meant to demoralize him. Political commentators believed 2025 was going to be his turning point in politics. His detractors and political opponents too knew that he would give them a good run for their money in the presidential race. It was expected that he would tell it all; SKC would leave no stone unturned. That is why he coined the saying ‘Osaopa, osatopa, osafooka’.
FEARLESS POLITICIAN
Those who had the opportunity to closely work with SKC will attest his fearless nature. While vice president in DPP government, he openly expressed his views on how government of which he was part, had backtracked on the anti-corruption fight. SKC deplored the tendency of shielding the corrupt, the connected and plunderers of public resources.
The corrupt did not like him. Plunderers feared him. The connected trembled at his sight – fearing he would at some point cut off political umbilical cord that put a blind eye on such mediocrity. When his efforts to bring sanity in the system were frustrated, he decided to leave the DPP. In fact, it was widely rumoured that there was a group of people in the party that worked underground to fight and frustrate SKC agenda. When he realized that the differences were irreparable, he moved on to form UTM Party.
Yet, not all people in DPP fought SKC. Those who were progressive just like Chilima wanted the party to inject new blood in its leadership. They wanted SKC to be the torchbearer in the 2019 general elections. One of them was former first lady, Callista Mutharika, who said DPP president, Peter Mutharika was old and should have paved way for SKC. She revealed of how some people in DPP were taking advantage of Mutharika’s advanced age to accomplish their dirty missions. That fell on death ears.
Malawians know how he performed as vice president from 2014 to 2019. They also bear witness to his performance when he deputized President Lazarus Chakwera from 2020 till his death on June 10 this year. Those that believe in honesty speak highly of SKC as a man of principles, integrity and someone who led by example.
President Chakwera described SKC as “a good man, a devoted father and husband, a patriotic citizen who served his country with distinction, and a formidable Vice President. I consider it one of the greatest honours of my life to have had him as my deputy and counsellor for the past four years, and his passing is a terrible loss to his wife Mary, his family, his friends, his colleagues in Cabinet, and to all of us as a nation that found his leadership and courage a source of inspiration.”
A colleague who was at Chancellor College [now University of Malawi] with the fallen vice president said “SKC will not ask of you that which he is not ready to do or give.”
“If he asked you to keep time, he would be the first to respect time. If he asked you to work hard, he would begin by rolling his sleeves and getting dirty. He would not abhor corruption in public while engaging in shady deals privately. He demanded integrity because he smells integrity. That is a very important quality in a leader who wants to transform the ethos of a public service immersed in systemic lethargy and the mindset of a nation beset by a spirit of defeatism and resignation to fate,” said veteran journalist Gracian Tukula.
Tukula added that SKC was frank and would never leave you in any doubt as to what he was thinking about you or something. He did not brook gossip. “If he said anything negative about you in your absence, you would be sure that he would repeat it in your face once he got the opportunity.”
To sum it all, SKC was so many good things. He inspired hope in the youth. His contributions towards reforms in government and his zeal to fight the corrupt, are a true reflection of a leader who wished Malawi well. Rest well SKC.
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