The assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia on October 16, 2017, has returned to the headlines, with the public enquiry and court cases back on track. The law courts have reopened, now that social restrictions are easing up.

Besides the intricacies of the murder plot which are the focus of the court case, the inquiry is probing the circumstances of the murder. It is expected to indicate whether Joseph Muscat’s government allowed, or even encouraged, a sense of impunity on violence threatened or used against Daphne, to be established in the public mood.

An unexpected revelation at the inquiry this week was made by the chairman of the Manoel Theatre, lawyer Michael Grech. 

He explained that in 2016, Mario Philip Azzopardi, then artistic director of Valletta Capital of Culture 2018, had submitted a script for a play, proposing for it to be staged at the Manoel Theatre. It was called Min Qatel lil Daphne? [Who killed Daphne?]. Unsurprisingly, the script was rejected.

The text of the play is not available. But its title amply shows what the atmosphere before her murder was like, with people of this mentality being appointed to prominent, official positions of responsibility in the cultural sector. 

Titles of contemporary stage productions are obviously chosen with some thought. They must be relevant, perhaps punchy, catchy or familiar. Titles must help to attract an audience to fill theatre seats for as many shows as possible. 

What kind of audience would have been attracted to a play with that title? The author must have thought it would be successful. He must also have expected it to have a good chance of being staged at the Manoel, Malta’s leading national theatre, or presumably he would not have submitted it.

Besides the audience, how did the author and his production team think that Daphne herself and her family would have felt at the time, had a play with such an intimidating and nasty title been staged at a national theatre? 

Azzopardi did not give up. After the assassination, the same company Teatru Staġun Malti submitted a second script on the same theme to the Manoel Theatre. It was now called ‘ix-Xiħa’ [The old woman] and apparently it featured a blogger resembling Daphne in some way.

Grech told the enquiry panel that he did not read the entire second script. He immediately deemed it inappropriate and rejected it. He submitted a copy of the script to the enquiry. 

Malta’s ‘Valletta 2018’ was part of the annual European ‘Capital of Culture’ initiative, partly funded and monitored by the European Union and held in collaboration with other member states. Besides cultural events, ECoC promotes broader social aims like inclusivity and cultural diversity. 

The very idea that the artistic director of Valletta 2018 would have thought it appropriate to stage a play called Who killed Daphne? in 2016 at Malta’s best-known national theatre, is outrageous. If people are not shocked, their expectations of the standards of persons holding official roles in the arts and culture sector must be abysmal. 

If the public inquiry is to shed light on whether the government was the soil in which seeds of hatred against Daphne were planted, this certainly weighs in on the answer.

Pulling in opposite directions

So what is it to be? More cars or a modal shift to alternative forms of transport? The government must make up its mind where it is heading. 

The proposed road tunnel to Gozo is a huge infrastructural investment. To be viable, it would need a massive amount of cars travelling backwards and forwards to Gozo. A modal shift to more public transport, with people using more buses or continuing to use the ferries, or the introduction of a metro system, could then make this car tunnel not feasible or unnecessary.

As the government is likely to support any private investors taking on this project, it is not likely that it will simultaneously improve the ferry service or think of innovative transport solutions. We will not be able to think beyond cars.

The proposed ‘waste-to-energy’ incinerator facility is another divided pathway. In truth, Malta does not have many options on waste disposal to choose from. The heavy reliance on landfill has to stop, and soon. 

But while the government is promoting greener waste solutions like recycling, at the same time it is here considering this major infrastructural investment which might pull us in the opposite direction.

A large incinerator is a hungry beast needing large amounts of waste to feed it and keep it running. Having such a facility does not automatically encourage the reduction or recycling of waste, which should take priority. Besides this, however, incineration seems to be the inevitable best solution.

One of the main environmental concerns is still that the government appears to have already chosen its location at Magħtab, without having presented all the environmental studies. Importantly, how far will any air emissions travel and in what direction? Will this affect residential areas and which ones? How does this compare to other possible locations?

The government has announced that this new waste-to-energy facility will be up and running by 2027. Magħtab seems suitable as it already has other waste infrastructure but it is also surrounded with residential areas, including Naxxar and St Paul’s Bay, and air emissions should be crucial to the decision too.

Decisions on the size and location of an incinerator should follow a full and open discussion of all possible alternatives.