Saulos Klaus Chilima (12 February 1973 – 10 June 2024) was a Malawian economist and politician who served as Vice President of Malawi from 2014 to 2019 and again from 2020 until his death in 2024.[1] 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.[2]
Born on 12 February 1973 in Ntcheu, Malawi.[3] He was the first child of Henderson Brown Chilima of Ching'anga Village, T/A Njewa, Lilongwe and Elizabeth Frances Valeira 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.[4]
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.[5] 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 (University of Malawi) to pursue a master of arts in Economics, graduating in 2005. On 10 August 2015, Chilima received his Ph.D in Knowledge Management from the University of Bolton in the United Kingdom.[6]
Business career
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).[7][8] 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.[7]
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.[9]
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.[11][12] 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.[13]
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.[14]
On 22 June 2022, Chilima was stripped of his delegated powers as a vice president due to his involvement in a US$150 million corruption scandal[15] involving alleged influence in the awarding of government contracts.[16]
In November 2022, he was charged on allegations that he received US$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.[17] 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.[18]
Advocacies
Previously, Chilima also served as minister for disaster relief and public events.[19]
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,[20] and wrote on the topic of malnutrition.[21] He spoke on sustainable and inclusive development[22] and at international conferences on ending hunger.[23]
Chilima voiced his advocacy of environmentalism[24] and of physical fitness[25] and sports participation,[26] a stern critic of corruption in politics,[27][28][29] and an active supporter of Archdiocesan seminaries.[30] As a student, he led the students' wing of Alliance for Democracy (Aford), founded by Chakufwa Chihana for championing multi-party democracy.[7]
Personal life
Chilima was married to Mary Chilima. They have two children, Sean and Elizabeth.[31] He was a Catholic.[32]
After Chilima's body was recovered, a state funeral service was held for him at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on 16 June, during which at least 41,000 people attended.[35] He was buried on 17 June in his home village of Nsipe, in a ceremony that was also attended by Chakwera and former presidents Bakili Muluzi, Joyce Banda and Peter Mutharika.[36]
