At exactly 1:45pm the body of the Vice-President, the late Chilima was lowered into its final resting place, accompanied by a 19-gun salute by the Malawi Defence Force.
Chilima has been laid to rest at Nsipe, in Mbirintengerenji Village in Ntcheu, a place where he also grew up in.
The late Chilima died on Monday last week in a plane crash in Chikangawa Forest in Mzimba district, alongside eight other people, who were on their way to Nkhata Bay District to attend the funeral ceremony of a renowned lawyer Raph Kasambara, who was also a former Justice Minister in former President Joyce Banda’s administration and an Attorney General (AG).
Thousands of mourners attended the funeral ceremony, which started with speeches from the bereaved family, traditional leaders and a mass, which was led by Archbishop Thomas Msusa.
Other high profile delegates who paid their last respects at the burial included President Lazarus Chakwera and Madame Monica Chakwera, Former President Peter Mutharika, Former President Bakili Muluzi, Former Vice-President Khumbo Kachale representative of Mary Chilima’s family, Zililo Chibambo, a representative of the bereaved family Elizabeth Mkandawire Mwanga, Inkosi Ya Makosi Gomani V and Archbishop Thomas Luke Msusa of the Archdiocese of Blantyre, among others.
Speaking on behalf of the family, Ben Chilima asked government to consider a memorial pillar at Chikangawa Forest, saying the memorial pillar would offer an opportunity to members of the public to continuously pray for the souls of the people that perished in the plane crash.
Many people, mostly the youth described him as a man of distinctive honour, diligence, symbol of hope whose legacy will never be forgotten.
In honour of the departed Vice-President, government organised a public ceremony on 15 and 16 June where Malawians and foreign dignitaries were given a chance to view the face and give respect for the last at Parliament Building and Bingu National Stadium.
Chilima was born on 12 February 1973 in Ntcheu, first child of Henderson Brown Chilima of Ching’anga Village, T/A Njewa, Lilongwe and Elizabeth Frances Chilima of Mbilintengerenji.
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 PhD in Knowledge Management from the University of Bolton in the United Kingdom.
A marketer by profession, Chilima started his work career at Lever Brothers (Mw) Limited (now part of 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 US$54 million in 2010 to US$95 million in 2013.
