Imagine a ship that leaves the harbour with no destination, no map, and no calendar. It just sails on the open ocean, consuming expensive fuel every single day, while the crew promises that they are looking for a lost treasure.
This is exactly what the parliamentary ad hoc committee investigating the tragic plane crash of former Vice President Saulos Chilima looks like to the citizens of Malawi. Instead of bringing closure, this investigation is quickly turning into an endless theatrical performance funded by the taxpayers.
The first major red flag is that this committee is sailing without a clock. There is no clear timeline, and nobody knows when this inquiry will actually end.
For the public, this is deeply worrying. Justice that is delayed is justice denied. When an investigation has no deadline, it loses its urgency. The memory of the tragedy begins to fade, and public interest dies out.
A never-ending inquiry feels less like a search for truth and more like a strategy to delay findings until the public simply forgets.
Even worse, the ship seems to be inviting passengers who do not even know how to swim. The committee continues to summon witnesses who have absolutely no relevant information about the crash.
Why are they doing this? The public heavily suspects that the motivation is not truth, but money. Every single meeting means sitting allowances for the committee members.
When politicians get paid by the hour or by the session, they have a financial reason to drag their feet and interview irrelevant people. Taxpayer money is being spent to fund endless talk shows while ordinary citizens struggle.
The biggest tragedy, however, is that this committee is trying to paint a picture in a pitch-black room. Because the aircraft lacked functional cockpit voice recorders and black boxes, the committee cannot rely on hard, scientific facts from the final moments of the flight.
Instead, they are forced to rely on the opinions, guesses, and stories of witnesses. This is a massive public concern because a national tragedy cannot be solved with gossip or speculation.
Without hard data, any report produced will just be a collection of theories, failing to give Malawi the concrete answers it deserves.
Finally, even if this committee miraculously finds the truth, it is a dog with a loud bark but absolutely no teeth.
The parliamentary committee lacks the power to arrest or prosecute anyone. Its final report will just be a list of recommendations.
To enforce anything, it must beg for cooperation from the Malawi Police Service and the Anti-Corruption Bureau—institutions that are often controlled by the political elite.
Historically, Malawi is a graveyard of forgotten reports from past commissions that were simply thrown into office drawers to gather dust.
To break this curse, Parliament must not sit back. It must pass a binding resolution that forces the executive arm of government to implement the report within a strict timeframe, or use its power to block government funding until action is taken.
If Parliament fails to demand this legal bite, this entire investigation is nothing but an expensive exercise in chasing shadows.
This is exactly what the parliamentary ad hoc committee investigating the tragic plane crash of former Vice President Saulos Chilima looks like to the citizens of Malawi. Instead of bringing closure, this investigation is quickly turning into an endless theatrical performance funded by the taxpayers.
The first major red flag is that this committee is sailing without a clock. There is no clear timeline, and nobody knows when this inquiry will actually end.
For the public, this is deeply worrying. Justice that is delayed is justice denied. When an investigation has no deadline, it loses its urgency. The memory of the tragedy begins to fade, and public interest dies out.
A never-ending inquiry feels less like a search for truth and more like a strategy to delay findings until the public simply forgets.
Even worse, the ship seems to be inviting passengers who do not even know how to swim. The committee continues to summon witnesses who have absolutely no relevant information about the crash.
Why are they doing this? The public heavily suspects that the motivation is not truth, but money. Every single meeting means sitting allowances for the committee members.
When politicians get paid by the hour or by the session, they have a financial reason to drag their feet and interview irrelevant people. Taxpayer money is being spent to fund endless talk shows while ordinary citizens struggle.
The biggest tragedy, however, is that this committee is trying to paint a picture in a pitch-black room. Because the aircraft lacked functional cockpit voice recorders and black boxes, the committee cannot rely on hard, scientific facts from the final moments of the flight.
Instead, they are forced to rely on the opinions, guesses, and stories of witnesses. This is a massive public concern because a national tragedy cannot be solved with gossip or speculation.
Without hard data, any report produced will just be a collection of theories, failing to give Malawi the concrete answers it deserves.
Finally, even if this committee miraculously finds the truth, it is a dog with a loud bark but absolutely no teeth.
The parliamentary committee lacks the power to arrest or prosecute anyone. Its final report will just be a list of recommendations.
To enforce anything, it must beg for cooperation from the Malawi Police Service and the Anti-Corruption Bureau—institutions that are often controlled by the political elite.
Historically, Malawi is a graveyard of forgotten reports from past commissions that were simply thrown into office drawers to gather dust.
To break this curse, Parliament must not sit back. It must pass a binding resolution that forces the executive arm of government to implement the report within a strict timeframe, or use its power to block government funding until action is taken.
If Parliament fails to demand this legal bite, this entire investigation is nothing but an expensive exercise in chasing shadows.
