Chilima on a private visit to USA
Vice-President Saulos Chilima has left the country for a 10-day private visit to the United States of America (USA).
Chilima, who is also UTM Party torch bearer for the May 21 Tripartite Elections, left the country yesterday morning through Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) in Lilongwe where he boarded a Malawian Airline flight.
His special assistant on economic affairs Milward Tobias confirmed in an interview yesterday that Chilima left the country yesterday, but declined to give details of the trip, saying it is a private.
The plane which Chilima boarded was later reported to have had difficulty in landing at OR Tambo International Airport in South Africa after developing a faults.
But a statement issued later yesterday, signed by Malawian Airlines chief executive officer Hailemelekot Mamo, refuted reports that the plane made an abnormal landing.
Reads the statement matter is that the flight had a normal landing at OR Tambo International Airport. However, upon touchdown, the captain of the flight realised that one of the plane’s tyres had deflated during normal braking. in part: “The truth of the
“As a precaution, the captain decided not to proceed with taxing to the terminal Parking Bay but opted to have passengers disembark on the runway. All passengers disembarked with no incident.”
In December last year, Chilima undertook another private visit to Nigeria where he attended a high-level meeting on mitigating disruptive applications of information and communication technology (ICT) in electoral systems.
