Two years ago, as is customary, as leader of the Opposition I replied to the Budget speech delivered by the Minister of Finance. In my speech, I said the country was facing a tragic occurrence of such magnitude that the Budget debate became irrelevant. The date was October 17, 2017. The day before, Daphne Caruana Galizia was brutally assassinated a few metres away from her residence.

In my speech, I called for political responsibility to be shouldered.

I called for the resignation of the Police Commissioner and the removal of the Attorney General.

Two years have passed. Nobody from the government assumed political responsibility. The Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General were not removed from office. The masterminds behind the attack are still at large, with the police failing to wrap up what is arguably the most horrendous murder case in Malta’s history.

This murder has ramifications that go beyond other crimes.

Yet, our state institutions have so far failed to pinpoint the main mover despite having arraigned the persons who allegedly carried out the heinous deed. According to an article which appeared in The Sunday Times of Malta last week, police are focusing on three potential key suspects. Oddly enough, 11 months ago, the Commissioner of Police had told the Rule of Law mission that the investigation into the murder had reached “a very delicate stage” with the main suspects, “more than two Maltese nationals” having been identified.

Compare the situation locally with what happened in Slovakia.

Two days after the murder of Jan Kuciak, the Culture Minister resigned, saying that he “cannot cope with the fact that a journalist was killed during my tenure”.

Robert Kalinak, the Minister of Interior quit two weeks later. The Prime Minister himself resigned some days later. That is how political responsibility is carried in a democratic country. Within months of the murder, police arrested and arraigned four suspects who allegedly were involved in the execution.

One of the accused named the person who ordered the killing leading the police to charge Marian Kocner with the murder. The police will tell you that every case is different and that comparisons are odious. However, one has to question how our police with all the information they have in hand have not managed to solve this case.

We have to act as if business is as usual when the situation is anything but. This government has undermined all the State institutions

Next week Parliament will meet to discuss the financial estimates in this surreal situation. We have to act as if business is as usual when the situation is anything but. This government has undermined all the State institutions.

This is the conclusion of many independent reports including those drawn up by Moneyval, GRECO and the Venice Commission.

Parliament has over the past six years voted money, more money than ever, which served only to make our institutions weaker.

What is there beyond the rhetoric, the platitudes and the political spins that this government excels in? Is Malta better off as a result of the six Labour budgets? Economically, one could say that the GDP continued to grow at fast rates.

But questions are being asked about the long-term sustainability of this economic boom. The government’s model is based on injecting our economy with foreign labour, a model which by the Prime Minister’s own admission, is leaving victims on the wayside.

Is our environment better as a result of the last six budgets?

Definitely not. We are failing in key environment areas, not least in air quality where our country is registering some of the worst air quality in the EU.

What about the social area?

Is our social network system working better? One out of every four pensioners will tell you no. They are living at risk of poverty.

NGOs are reporting that workers are being offered substandard work conditions which begs the question: are some of our economic sectors booming at the expense of their employees? If so, this is a very short-sighted strategy. Literally, we are building castles on sand.

The Opposition, as it has done for the past years, analysed the economic and financial situation in its pre-budget document. We did not stop there. We offered the government over 100 proposals aimed at addressing the key challenges that our country is facing.

We offered suggestions of how government can help redress the environmental, social and institutional deficit it helped create. The document was well received by all social partners and the independent media. Sadly, the Prime Minister within hours of our document being published tried to rubbish it, in an arrogant and flippant manner.

His reaction will only serve to strengthen our resolve to fight for those who are finding it difficult to make ends meet.

We will continue to argue in favour of those who do not have a voice, including the generations that are yet to be borne and who deserve to inherit a country which is environmentally, socially, economically and democratically sound.

The Nationalist Party is the voice of those who do not agree with this government way of doing business, this government’s way of running this country. We will carry their voice in Parliament, as we always do, when we reply to the government’s Budget speech. A speech that once again will be overshadowed by the government’s failure to deliver peace of mind.

Adrian Delia is Opposition leader.