I often get the feeling that I’ve stumbled into some kind of Alice in Wonderland parallel universe, complete with invisible smiling, fat cat and queen ready to chop off everyone’s heads the minute they disagree with her. Why else would Pia Zammit and Mark Camilleri be facing the censorship of courts and government respectively, while the shady people we help elect are out there roaming freer than wildebeests on a plain saying and doing as they please with little to no repercussion?
In a week where the country faced shortages of HIV medication which has left people scrambling and desperate, and the nurses’ industrial action getting a green light from court which further tightens the belt on an already sagging healthcare sector, the government decided that what really needed to be done was publicly state that the board tasked with leading the inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia must bear the responsibility of its actions. I’m not sure what such a statement means to the rest of you, but it does beg the question of why the government seems to be in such a rush to close an inquiry which is still in full swing.
A question which National Book Council executive chairman Mark Camilleri commented about on a Facebook post on his personal page, and which spurned a spat between Camilleri and one of Yorgen Fenech’s lawyers, led to the education minister asking for Camilleri’s resignation after it was claimed the language he used was inappropriate.
It’s funny what we find “inappropriate” in this country. For example, the reinstation of the same education minister, Justyne Caruana, whose now ex-husband was a close, known associate of Fenech, was not deemed to be particularly problematic, nor are Jason Micallef’s random meltdowns (the latter couldn’t even be unseated as Valletta 2018 chairman by 72 MEPs in 2018).
Anyone who is scared of a public inquiry at the very least looks like they have something to hide- Anna Marie Galea
Accepting gifts is also not seen to be particularly inappropriate, with news of fresh trips and baubles coming to the surface every day; however, should you be on the ‘wrong team’ then you’re asked to consider your position for something as banal as telling someone who shouldn’t even be texting you to buzz off. As a people, we truly seem to idolise the concept of missing the wood for the trees.
This two weights, two measures approach has become yet another method of controlling what people say and censoring them to make sure that they toe the party line, however much sand is blowing in everyone’s face.
Well, if there’s anything that Camilleri has shown from the very beginning it’s that he won’t be censored. People like him, people who can’t be bought, are now so few and far between that even those who might not necessarily agree with his political ideals are willing to stand up and be counted next to him.
I will reiterate what Camilleri said in his original post: anyone who is scared of a public inquiry at the very least looks like they have something to hide. Public inquiries are not yet another tool to be manipulated and used by any government for their own ends; they are also not an extension of the government.
They are there to uncover the facts, however ugly and black they may be, because living in a democracy means that the people who vote for you are owed truth and accountability.
You also shouldn’t be allowed to go after people just because they disagree with you. If you ask me, that’s what’s truly inappropriate.