In my line of work, I see the devastation traffic accidents inflict. I see limbs torn, bones shattered, blood vessels lacerated, skin and flesh shorn off. I see bodies broken and lives destroyed.
And those are just the ones who reach the hospital. Some leave the site of the accident in a hearse. The untold pain and misery of the injured pales into insignificance next to the unbearable lifelong agony of the families of the dead.
To think that some of that indescribable torment may well have been caused by the utterly reprehensible actions of our political representatives is simply stomach churning. To hear the leader of the nation, the prime minister, heaping praise on the culprits behind the driving licence scandal is unconscionable.
Robert Abela knows that those candidates referred by his ministers, party officials and customer care officers for a free pass in their driving test were a danger to the rest of us. He understands that the sole purpose of having a driving test is to filter out those deemed unsafe. He surely realises that giving dangerously incompetent candidates a driving licence may well have caused some of those tragic accidents on our roads.
Abela has just squandered a brilliant opportunity. At his party’s general conference Abela was given the chance to take stock. Faced with the shocking and damning evidence of an elaborate scheme to cheat the system to garner votes, Abela could have taken a step back. The wrath of the nation and the alarm expressed by various organisations should have led him to think carefully over what he has created.
If Abela, ever lacking in emotional intelligence, didn’t pick up the vibe, Evarist Bartolo spelt it out for him: “Is it a Labour value to help only those who come to us instead of fixing the current system? Is it a Labour value to celebrate corruption and clientelism as natural qualities of local politics and governance?”
But instead of showing leadership and guiding his party and his government away from the stinking stench of clientelism, Abela boldly declared it was exactly what he expected of his ministers and officials. This, he declared, is “their job”. In fact, he regretted that his customer care officers hadn’t “helped” more people.
Abela may be spared the gory spectacle of shattered bones protruding through lacerated skin or the horrifying pallor of a man bleeding internally from a fractured liver. But he must know the risks of his rotten racket. Sadly, not even death moves the man to do what’s right.
When Miriam Pace’s life was coldly ended under the rubble of her own home, Abela wasn’t moved. When the Quintano committee handed him a report on reforms required in the construction industry, Abela hid that report for months. He knew the changes Quintano recommended could save lives. He knew he could prevent more deaths, only if he acted quickly.
Abela wasn’t moved by the desperate pleas of Pace’s husband. He chose to shield the developers, whose massive profits could have been dented by any changes to the status quo.
Abela refused to publish that report. It took enormous pressure from Pace’s family to make the callous Abela relent. When that report revealed the peril the construction industry posed to the nation and how Pace’s death could have been prevented, Abela vociferously rejected calls for a public inquiry.
To hear the prime minister heaping praise on the culprits behind the driving licence scandal is unconscionable- Kevin Cassar
Abela dragged his feet. He wilfully refused to make the dramatic changes required to the industry. He knew perfectly well the longer the delays to reforming the industry, the bigger the profits for his friends, the developers, and the more lives would be lost.
And they were. Among them was Jean Paul Sofia’s. The innocent young man was crushed beneath the ruins of a flimsy structure built by total incompetents without the slightest oversight by Abela’s utterly useless regulatory bodies. That death, and others, lie squarely and heavily on Abela’s shoulders. But did he show any remorse?
Abela was given plenty of opportunities to redeem himself. The sheer anguish that Sofia’s cruel end elicited in the whole nation left no mark on Abela. Even the sorrowful sobs of Sofia’s mother left him cold.
He voted against a public inquiry and ordered all his MPs to do likewise – and then swiftly scuppered off to party in Girgenti and then onto his yacht for another Mediterranean cruise.
The whole world shuddered when the gory details of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s lifelong ordeal at the hands of Labour were published in the inquiry report. The nation recoiled in disgust at the merciless torment Glenn Bedingfield, Chris Cardona, Żurrieq mayor Natius Farrugia and so many of Labour’s top brass put her through. A whole country squirmed at the cold-blooded planning of her brutal end.
Abela had another golden opportunity. He was given a detailed report complete with recommendations indicating how to stop such an obscene atrocity happening again.
All he had to do was implement those recommendations. But the man of action, who brags he’s not afraid to take decisions, hasn’t even implemented a single one of those recommendations.
Abela knows he can prevent more deaths. And he knows exactly how to. But he won’t lift a finger.
That report was published over two years ago. And Abela still dithers and delays, frustrating all efforts to make Malta a better place, a safer country, a more humane nation.
This is the same man who struck a dodgy deal with Chris Borg, now charged with abduction, criminal conspiracy and recidivism. Abela’s judgement is rotten. Not even the loss of innocent lives moves him to do what’s right.
And, yet, almost half the people of this country trust him. That is nothing but belief perseverance – the utter failure of people, despite the overwhelming evidence, to realise that a seemingly benevolent authority figure is, in fact, malevolent. Sadly, we all pay for those people’s choices.