I couldn’t believe my ears when I first heard the prime minister utter these words. I looked up the clip again to be sure over the past days. The prime minister was addressing a gathering of Labour supporters on July 19, 2023, in Gudja: “Isabelle Bonnici and John Sofia, the father of Jean Paul Sofia…. what they are requesting is clearly their right. Society and our country have brought these persons (to the point) that, in order to claim what is theirs, they have to organise protests.”
Robert Abela, who vehemently opposed the idea of a public inquiry, who tried to ridicule the opposition for insisting on it and for using its very limited parliamentary time to present a motion calling upon the government to set up such an inquiry, who even tried to humiliate Sofia’s mother not to let herself “be used”, who told us time and time again that a magisterial inquiry would suffice, who was using the entire government apparatus to tell us how wrong we were, had to make a U-turn and succumb to public pressure.
It was not society and our country that had brought Bonnici and Sofia to the brink.
It was none other than Abela who led them to the point where they had to organise protests.
I would like to think that even, if Abela is known for his arrogance, he has not yet reached the point to call himself “our society, our country”!
There is one truth. Were it not for the opposition that tabled the motion for the setting up of the inquiry and for civil society to support it with no holds barred, spearheaded by none other than Jean Paul’s mother, the inquiry would have never taken place.
There would be no finding of responsibilities, no calls for resignations, no serious recommendations about what needs to be done.
Abela called us “populist” for remaining resilient. If by that he means that we were the ones not to give up and for genuinely standing up for our society, for our country, so be it. We shall always stand on the side of the people, in particular on the side of the weak and the vulnerable.
We cannot allow a situation where Jean Paul Sofia has lost his life in vain
The public inquiry has reached clear conclusions. This was a classic comedy of errors (with all due respect to William Shakespeare, page 405 of report). This was a situation where the site where Jean Paul lost his life was not controlled by any pubic authorities. So much for the proliferation of more and more entities and authorities where persons are not chosen for their competence but for their blind allegiance to the government.
To date, two members of the Labour Party parliamentary group have publicly expressed their regret for voting against our motion in parliament.
In parliament, I pointed out that, more than a comedy of errors, this a tragedy brought about by one blunder after another and yet another. As leader of the opposition, in line with the findings of the public inquiry, I am insisting that the government, the executive, assumes full political responsibility for all the shortcomings and the blatant irresponsibility that led to the death of Sofia. Trying to resolve matters by offering a limited number of persons to act as sacrificial lambs simply does not cut it.
The government is guilty. It is the government that must accept all responsibility. Otherwise, we would be merely living in the theatre of the absurd where, typically, the big fish get away. More than ever, I can understand why Abela was totally opposed to this inquiry. He was trying to escape from the responsibility that he is supposed to assume. The prime minister is responsible for all the choices that he has made.
This is not the first case where the government has been found to be at fault. It has been at fault for the killing of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The government has shelved the inquiry held about that killing and, to date, has not carried out any recommendation from the report. It depends on all of us, acting together, not to allow this to keep happening over and over again.
The government has failed society for the killing of Bernice Cassar who was left without protection. The government has failed us for other building sites that have collapsed. Can we forget how Miriam Pace lost her life?
Ministers Miriam Dalli, Silvio Schembri and Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi must assume their political responsibility for the countless blunders that led to the untimely death of Sofia. The prime minister must then accept his own political responsibility.
Alongside the family of Sofia, the opposition will remain relentless in insisting that all recommendations in the inquiry report are carried out expeditiously and effectively. We will keep insisting that the government, which has been found guilty of the web of errors committed by its faithful, must accept its political responsibility as is the norm in any democracy.
We call on all persons of good faith to stand together with us in securing for our society and our country what is right. It can be done, and I am confident that it shall be done.
We cannot give up.
We cannot allow a situation where Jean Paul has lost his life in vain.
Bernard GrechBernard Grech is leader of the opposition and of the Nationalist Party.