The plane, which took off just after 9:00 am local time (0700 GMT), was carrying 51-year-old Chilima and nine others.
According to the government, a military plane carrying Saulos Chilima, the vice president of Malawi, was carrying him when it failed to arrive yesterday morning.
“All efforts by aviation authorities to make contact with the aircraft since it went off the radar have failed thus far,” the government said in a statement.
The plane, which took off just after 9:00 am local time (0700 GMT), was carrying 51-year-old Chilima and nine others.
President Lazarus Chakwera has ordered regional and national forces to conduct an “immediate search and rescue operation to locate the whereabouts of the aircraft,” the statement said.
Chakwera, who was due to travel to the Bahamas for a working visit, has since cancelled his trip.
In 2022, Chilima was stripped of his powers when he was arrested and charged with graft over a bribery scandal involving a British-Malawian businessman.
Last month, a Malawian court dropped the charges after Chilima attended several court appearances.