The Opposition will be presenting a motion of no confidence in Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia after the shooting incident involving his driver.

It will not go through. The Labour government with its strong nine-seat majority will vote against the motion and possible counter it with a motion of confidence in the minister.

But the Opposition has taken an important stand, one that unequivocally represents the general feeling in the country today, except of course in the corridors of power, where Dr Mallia continues to be protected, not least by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Hopefully, the motion will be debated before the Christmas recess because otherwise the momentum would be lost.

Last week's shooting incident is the culmination of a series of events involving the minister ever since he was given the post in March 2013. It is probable that Minister Mallia has been in the news for the wrong reasons as much as all of his colleagues put together. His visit to the Kordin prisons soon after he was made minister, the decision to use police officers as caterers, the non-publication of reports involving police behaviour, the recent decision that the police officers occupying the top three ranks in the police force will have their term extended based on their performance and the appalling use of PBS as a government propaganda machine - among many other things - have always thrown bad light on the minister.

He may have been one of the best criminal lawyers the country has ever had, but as a minister his record is not so good. And we are still in the first 20 months of this legislature.

As a minister, it seems that he has lost the composure that characterised his professional duties as a lawyer. Yet, even before becoming part of the Joseph Muscat Cabinet, there were signs that Dr Mallia would cause some difficult moments to his own party.

When, in the run-up to the 2013 election, he said he would seek the imprisonment of the then Nationalist Party general secretary Paul Borg Olivier in criminal libel proceedings he instituted against him, it was already clear that Dr Mallia goes overboard easily. He has since withdrawn this position, but this does not eliminate the fact that for a time Dr Mallia wanted a political opponent behind bars.

How's that for an example of freedom, the same freedom that Dr Mallia boasts of having fought for at Tal-Barrani when, in 1986, the Nationalist Party wanted to hold a mass meeting in Zejtun but was deprived of doing so by a mixture of police officers and Labour thugs. That time, police officers whose duty is to protect citizens abused their power. The same happened last week, now with Minister Mallia responsible for the police force.

Dr Mallia should have kept his presence at Tal-Barrani to himself, and not bring it up now. His declaration that he was there will only serve to encourage more disdain from the PN camp while at the same time not endear him with Labour supporters.

But it seems that the pressure he is facing is clouding his judgment.