By Suleman Chitera
Parliament was thrown into uproar today after Honourable Patricia Kaliati forcefully confronted the Speaker, demanding clarity over explosive claims that a “black box” from the ill-fated aircraft crash that killed former Vice President Saulos Chilima and seven others was recovered and kept.
Her intervention was not casual. It was pointed. It was charged. And it cut straight to the heart of a matter that refuses to die.
According to Kaliati, someone within the House previously stated that the black box exists and was stored. The reaction from the chamber was immediate and deafening. Several MPs rose in vocal support, while others loudly insisted that the person who made that assertion was Moses Kunkuyu.
This is where the matter turns from confusion to contradiction.
Kunkuyu is on record, according to earlier accounts, as having said that the MCP-led government kept the black box from the crashed aircraft. That statement—if indeed made—would be monumental. A black box is not a political prop; it is critical evidence in any aviation disaster investigation. Its existence or non-existence determines whether the truth about that crash can ever be fully known.
Yet now, under public and media scrutiny, Kunkuyu is denying ever making such remarks.
The public is left staring at a troubling question: Who is misleading the nation?
If the black box exists, why the hesitation? Why the denials? Why the evasiveness? If it does not exist, why were statements allegedly made suggesting it was in government custody? Parliament cannot become a theatre of reckless declarations followed by convenient amnesia.
This is not a trivial political spat. Eight lives were lost. Families are grieving. The country is still searching for answers. The black box issue is not gossip—it is about accountability, transparency, and the integrity of public office.
Kaliati’s challenge in the House has forced the issue back into the spotlight. And it must stay there.
Either someone spoke out of turn and must correct the record. Or someone is retreating from a statement that was, at the time, politically convenient.
Malawians deserve clarity—not chants, not denials, not shifting narratives. The truth about that crash cannot be buried beneath parliamentary noise.
If leaders are prepared to make bold claims inside the chamber, they must also be prepared to stand by them outside it.
Anything less is an insult to the nation.
