On 6th December 2023 at around 3:30 in the afternoon, I received a phone call from a man who identified himself as Dr. Luckie Sikwese a Principal Secretary in the office of the Vice President of the republic of Malawi. I had just arrived in Malawi to launch my first ever book “Funding Handbook: Navigating resources with purpose and Chiko had just picked me up from the airport. Actually, we were still within the airport premises.
Dr. Sikwese said “Mr. Yakobe, the Vice President is considering attending your book launch as a guest of honour next week and I will confirm with you on Monday, through a letter.” You have no idea how happy I was. My book launch marketing team led by Chimwemwe Chiweza and Talumba Ndilowe had delayed releasing the final poster for the book launch waiting for this confirmation so that they can blast the social media with the news.
Ofcourse some things came up and the Vice President did not come. However, I appreciated the thought and plan. Imagine the whole country’s second in coming making a plan to attend a book launch by an unknown young man. Ofcourse the name “Peter Yakobe” was not new to the Vice President. I met him for the first time in 2016 when I was selected as a Mandela Washington fellow for the young African leaders initiative. The then US ambassador to Malawi Virginia Palmer took all of us the fellows to the VP’s office where after having a direct conversation with him, he shared his personal number that I have been using to communicate with him. In one of our events in Zomba, he failed to come but delegated the then minister of Youth Francis Kasaila. I also met the Vice President two years ago when I was working with the National Youth Council of Malawi. The statutory corporations in Malawi were implementing different public sector reforms and we were all reporting to his office. On this day, I went to present the report to him on behalf of NYCOM accompanied by my collegues Felix Chiyenda and Mclean Banda together with the then Principal Secretary in the ministry of youth Dr. Oliver Kumbambe and director of youth Judith Msusa.
The Vice President died on Monday 10th June, 2024 during a plane crash in Chikangawa forest northern part of Malawi. Since then the nation has been on sorrow, the same way Americans were shocked and mourned when their President John F Kennedy was shot dead in Dallas Texas in 1967. But why have Malawians mourned Chilima so much even though they did not agree with his politics and the way of doing things? Chilima came on the political scene in 2014 after being picked by President Arthur Peter Mutharika to be his running mate. Three years later, Chilima shocked the nation by forming his own party after accusing his former party of corruption and nepotism, something his former party denied. He then contested against his former party and Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi Congress Party (the current state President) and he became distant third. The elections was annulled by the high court and called for a re-run where Chilima partnered with Lazarus Chakwera of MCP and together they won the elections with Chakwera as President and Chilima as the Vice President.
Malawians have mourned Chilima because he introduced non tribal politics. The current Malawi politics is based on tribes and people mostly vote based on their tribe. Chilima however, attracted supporters from all over the country and all the tribes even though his votes were not enough to make him President. Coming from a Private sector before joining politics, Chilima brought on the political scene hardwork, innovation and efficiency something that is lacked in the normal government business. He inspired Malawians to dream and demonstrated to them that government can be run differently and produce excellent results creating a free and prosperous society for everyone. He brought in energy and seriousness in the way of doing government business. All these characters and qualities Malawians do not find in the leaders waiting to contest in the upcoming elections. As a bonafide Malawian, I am grateful for the opportunity I had to meet and interact with the departed Vice President. May his soul continue to rest well.
