Saulos Chilima

The Right Honourable Saulos Chilima
File:Saulos Chilima.jpg Chilima in 2022
Vice-President of Malawi
In office 3 February 2020 – 10 June 2024
President	Peter Mutharika Lazarus Chakwera
Preceded by	Everton Chimulirenji
Succeeded by	TBD
In office 31 May 2014 – 31 May 2019
President	Peter Mutharika
Preceded by	Khumbo Kachali
Succeeded by	Everton Chimulirenji
Minister of Economic Planning and Development
In office 29 June 2020 – 10 June 2024
President	Lazarus Chakwera
Preceded by	Position Created
Succeeded by	TBD
Minister of the Civil Service
In office 31 May 2014 – 31 May 2019
President	Peter Mutharika
Preceded by	Khumbo Kachali
Minister Responsible for Public Events and Disaster Management
In office 31 May 2014 – 31 May 2019
President	Peter Mutharika
Preceded by	Khumbo Kachali
Personal details
Born	(1973-02-12)12 February 1973 Ntcheu, Malawi
Died	Chikangawa Forest Reserve, Malawi
Political party	Tonse Alliance United Transformation Movement (UTM)
Other political affiliations	Democratic Progressive Party (until 2018)
Spouse(s)	Mary Chilima
Children	Sean Chilima Elizabeth Chilima Madalitso Chilima
Alma mater	University of Malawi University of Bolton

Saulos Klaus Chilima (12 February 1973 – 10 June 2024) was a Malawian economist and politician who was the vice-president of the Republic of Malawi from 2014 to 2019 and again from 2020 until his death in 2024. Chilima assumed office 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 multi-national companies including Unilever, Coca-Cola and Airtel Malawi, where he rose to become Chief Executive Officer.

On 10 June 2024, a plane carrying Vice-President Chilima and nine other passengers went missing in Chikangawa Forest Reserve in Mzimba District when it took off from Malawi's capital Lilongwe, disappeared from radar and did not land at its planned destination of Mzuzu Airport. The plane was unable to land at the airport due to poor visibility and was ordered to return to Lilongwe but failed to arrive. On 11 June 2024, Chilima was reported dead after the plane's wreckage was found.

Early life and education

Born on 12 February 1973 in Ntcheu, Malawi. He was the first child of Henderson Brown Chilima of Ching’anga Village, T/A Njewa, Lilongwe and Elizabeth Frances Chilima of Mbilintengerenji Village, T/A Champiti, Ntcheu. Chilima spent most of his early life in Blantyre where his parents were working and spent his summer holidays with his paternal and maternal grandparents in Lilongwe and Ntcheu, respectively.

Chilima did his primary school at HHI and Dharap primary schools, and his secondary education at the Marist Brothers Mtendere Secondary School Thiwi in the Dedza District. He went on to the University of Malawi, Chancellor College, where he graduated with a degree in social sciences in 1994. After working for a few years, he returned to his alma mater to pursue a master's degree in Knowledge Management, graduating in 2006. On 10 August 2015, Chilima received his Ph.D in Knowledge Management from the University of Bolton in the United Kingdom.

Professional career

A marketer by profession, Chilima started his work career at Lever Brothers (Mw) Limited (now Unilever) before moving on to the Leasing and Finance Company of Malawi, and later Southern Bottlers Limited (now Castel Malawi). His last professional assignment was at Airtel Malawi where he was hired to lead its sales team before being named the first-ever local managing director for the company in 2010.

Chilima's most notable professional career successes include spearheading the strategic and breakthrough projects at Airtel, namely Project Precision, Yabooka, Airtel Money, and a 3G network upgrade, which resulted in significant impacts on the business revenue and employee engagement, growing Airtel Malawi's annual revenue by 75% over a period of three years from $54 million in 2010 to $95 million in 2013.

Political career

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

Chilima later left the DPP and launched his own party, the United Transformation Movement (UTM), on 21 July 2018 to contest the May 2019 elections. On 1 February 2019, the UTM held meetings with two other political parties and an alliance of smaller political parties aimed at forming a united opposition. These included the Alliance for Democracy (Aford), former President Joyce Banda's People's Party, and the Tikonze People's Movement led by former Vice-President Cassim Chilumpha. They agreed to field one presidential candidate for the election. Both Banda and Chilumpha later withdrew from the alliance citing "disagreement with the selection of a presidential running mate for the candidate of the upcoming election" as their reason.

In the election, Chilima alongside Michael Usi as a running mate came third with 20.24% of the popular vote and the UTM won four seats in the National Assembly. However, the presidential election was annulled and rerun in 2020. In that year, Chilima contested the race as Lazarus Chakwera's running mate for the Malawi Congress Party, in the Tonse alliance which brought up to nine opposition political parties with hopes to topple the administration of Peter Mutharika.

On 22 June 2022, Chilima was stripped of his delegated powers as a vice-president due to his involvement in a $150 million corruption scandal involving alleged influencing in the awarding of government contracts.

In November 2022, he was changed on allegations that he received $280, 000 from a British businessman Zuneth Sattar in exchange for awarding government contracts to Xaviar Ltd and Malachitte FZE, two companies linked to Sattar. He pleaded not guilty to the corruption charges. In May 2024 the corruption charges were dropped after the state prosecutor filed a motion to dismiss the case. President Chakwera had started to assign official duties to Chilima even before the charges were dropped.

Advocacies

Previously, Chilima also served as minister for disaster relief and public events.

Chilima was a member of the Leadership Council of Compact 2025, a partnership that develops and disseminates evidence-based advice to politicians and other decision-makers aimed at ending hunger and undernutrition by 2025, and wrote on the topic of malnutrition. He spoke on sustainable and inclusive development and at international conferences on ending hunger.

Chilima voiced his advocacy of environmentalism and of physical fitness and sports participation, a stern critic of corruption in politics, and an active supporter of Archdiocesan seminaries. As a student led the students’ wing of Alliance for Democracy (Aford), founded by Chakufwa Chihana for championing multi-party democracy.

Personal life

A devout Roman Catholic, Chilima was married to Mary (née Chibambo). They had three children, Madalitso, Sean and Elizabeth. A verifiable source is unavailable for the child named "Madalitso", but various sources confirm the couple having two children, Sean and Elizabeth.

Death

Main article: 2024 Chikangawa Dornier 228 crash

On 10 June 2024, a Dornier 228 aircraft of the Malawi Defence Force carrying Chilima and nine others went missing in the Chikangawa Forest Reserve in the Northern Region while they were on their way to attend the funeral of former government minister Ralph Kasambara. President Lazarus Chakwera ordered a search and rescue operation after aviation officials were unable to contact the aircraft. On 11 June 2024, in a national address, Chakwera confirmed that Chilima and all passengers in the plane were confirmed dead in the crash.