I refer to the very interesting editorial, ‘Almost a requiem for democracy’, (The Sunday Times of Malta, October 8). The term ‘requiem’ described the lack of transparency and the selective actions in the investigation process by the Police and Attorney General, and truly fits the present state of affairs in the administration of justice. The words of the Chief Justice should have created a tremor in this country, but all we got was a flippant reference by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
Rightly so, the editorial highlights the unanswered questions regarding several allegations made against Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia. But to be fair, Dr Delia has been quoted on Xarabank as declaring that if any authority or other person makes an effort to look at all the documentation and finds even one true fact in what was alleged – money laundering, prostitution or anything else – “I will shoulder the responsibility and will resign”.
The editorial added: “What a moribund democracy, when the Opposition is shaping up to be the government’s dream come true.” Only time will tell whether this perception is right or wrong. Perception has a habit of becoming fact in people’s mind – hence Fr Joe Borg’s conclusion in the same issue of the paper that the “credibility of the Nationalist Party as the bulwark against corruption has been wounded by the post-electoral developments within the same party”.
It is Dr Delia’s duty and responsibility to clear his name more forcefully and put his house in order regarding his payment of taxes, as any doubts about him will hamper the new party administration that will soon be in place.
I, for one, would not like to see the newly elected deputy leaders and other officials having to answer awkward questions rightly put to them by journalists.
Labour knows how to manipulate any blemish – real, perceived or fabricated. It is Joseph Muscat’s aim to emasculate the Opposition in the same way that he rendered all watchdogs “many of them now eunuchs”, as the editorial put it so elegantly.