Editorial: It’s called accountability, Jason
Micallef spent much of his public career vilifying critics and attacking those who question his conduct
Ta’ Qali parks director Jason Micallef is at it yet again, ranting about the media’s insistence on getting information about the infamous gravel he commissioned.
It has only been a few months since Micallef threatened podcaster Trudy Kerr with legal action for daring to raise the issue. Now his anger is directed at a Newsbook journalist and he has, by all accounts, crossed from the sublime to the ridiculous.
His attack on the journalist, who was doing her job, went beyond the threats he had levelled at Kerr. His excuse was that he could not be expected to allow a lie to go unchallenged.
The “lie” is simply the fact that the Ta’ Qali area he smothered in gravel for €300,000 (at taxpayers’ expense) has not yielded the green patches that were promised.
When confronted by journalists about the matter after a news conference, he dismissed them saying he wants to talk about Valletta’s New Year’s Eve celebrations: therefore, refusing to answer by trying to distract, the oldest – and most puerile – trick in the book.
What is unacceptable is not merely what he has failed to say about the gravel, but his attack on the Newsbook journalist who dared to scrutinise the project. By even uploading photos of her to his social media platforms, he effectively invited his supporters to hurl abuse at her. Such vitriol has no place in a democratic society.
His rant is particularly worrying because he is a public official, paid by public money. This makes him accountable to that public and means that he has a duty to answer for his actions. The media and NGOs represent the public.
He cannot continue with his charade to try to imply that the media are simply singling him out.
His antics over gravel may have satisfied those happy to argue about New Year’s Eve celebrations, but anyone who saw their cherished weekend escape to Ta’ Qali reduced to a lake or a desert of dust knows that frustration cuts across the political divide.
Anybody who is not partisan is asking the same question: has public money been misspent on a public space enjoyed by thousands.
Even the prime minister spoke of the importance of offering two sides to the story and letting the public decide, rather than provide a licence for a social media rant aimed at vilifying a journalist.
As Repubblika pointed out, freedom of expression “does not exist to shield public officials from public scrutiny, nor to give them a licence to abuse, intimidate or vilify journalists who hold them accountable for their actions”.
Perhaps someone could explain to Micallef the difference between those doing their job and the others failing to do theirs.
None of this is new. Micallef has spent much of his public career vilifying critics and attacking those who question his conduct. From V18 to the Valletta Cultural Agency and now Ta’ Qali, the pattern is the same: scrutiny is met not with answers but with aggression, intimidation, and personal abuse.
Micallef knows exactly what he is doing. He knows that his abrasive, combative tone often plays well with those in power, that it signals loyalty, and that it has reliably guaranteed him continued appointments within Labour’s ecosystem of agencies and quangos.
But political patronage does not place him above scrutiny, and it certainly does not give him a licence to behave as though accountability were a personal attack.