Renowned legal practitioner, Dr Chikosa Silungwe, has joined calls for a commission of inquiry into circumstances that led to the tragic death of Malawi's Vice President, Dr Saulos Klaus Chilima.

Silungwe made the call during his eulogy at Chilima's funeral at Bingu National Stadium (BNS) in Lilongwe on Sunday morning.

Silungwe, who was one of the prominent lawyers on the side of Chilima during the famous case where Peter Mutharika's victory in the 2019 presidential elections was being challenged, said as a close friend to Chilima, he strongly joins the call for two reasons.

He was speaking after Chilima's elder brother, Dr Ben Chilima, also made the same call.

"The first reason I enjoin this call is because a thorough investigation is a constitutional duty. The cause of the accident will accord dignity and respect to the victims of the crash.

"The most important thing is that we must learn for once the lessons from such a tragedy," remarked Silungwe.

And in her eulogy, Secretary General for the United Transformation Movement (UTM), Patricia Kaliati, said the party and all the youth in the country will continue to pursue Chilima's dream about Malawi.

"Dr Chilima's death at the age of 51 is a great loss..We in the UTM will see Dr Saulos Chilima's vision accomplished. As he always said osaopa, osatopa, osafooka, ..To our father, Dr Saulos Chilima, what you stood for moves on. We are multiplying now ndipo tonse tagwilana manja," said Kaliati.