The final opportunity for the press to seek comments from Prime Minister Joseph Muscat ahead of next Saturday’s European election proved to be no such thing, with Dr Muscat stealthily leaving the scene while journalists were waiting to ask him questions.
Dr Muscat was visiting the Pender Gardens project, whose developers announced that €50 million will be invested on the second phase of the project.
The traditional opportunity for the press to ask questions – right after comments were made by Dr Muscat and by the developers – was not provided, as the Prime Minister, his entourage and the developers immediately went on to hold a private meeting.
Journalists, unsurprisingly, remained on site to wait for the meeting to be finished and to ask their questions.
But after some 30 minutes, an Office of the Prime Minister official informed journalists that Dr Muscat had left. The Prime Minister opted to use a different door to leave the building he had entered, ensuring he remained out of sight of the press.
His only other public appearance on the agenda today is a mass rally by the Labour Party in the evening, which provides no opportunity for journalists to ask him questions.
The press’ questions would have likely touched upon yesterday’s somewhat farcical scenes in parliament, which saw government MPs effectively boycott a Public Accounts Committee meeting whose agenda was to seek the publication of the contract signed with Henley and Partners, who are the “concessionaires” of the government’s citizenship scheme.
One government MP would have sufficed for a quorum – together with the three opposition MPs forming part of the PAC – but while PAC member Karmenu Vella was present in the building, he did not attend. Coincidentally, all four government MPs claimed to have other commitments.
In yesterday’s political activity, Dr Muscat stressed that he was welcoming the people’s judgment on Saturday, election day.
However, it appears that was not as keen on the press’ scrutiny on Thursday, the last day of the electoral campaign.