While this newspaper has absolutely no intention of pre-empting or second-guessing the results of the inquiry ordered into the alleged cover-up of the shooting incident involving the home affairs minister's driver, transcripts of conversations from that fateful night published over the last two days by the Opposition media have shed a whole new light on the incident and the government's horribly failed attempts at damage control.

After having digested all the facts published over the last 48 hours, one would be easily forgiven for asking what on earth has become of the government's pledge of transparency.

Those transcripts directly implicate a number of people in the government's failed attempt to put the shooting incident down to mere 'warning shots' after a mere 'hit and run' incident. 

These include Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia, Acting Police Commissioner Ray Zammit, the government's head of communications Kurt Farrugia, and, albeit indirectly, the Prime Minister himself.

That completely botched attempt at misleading the media, and by default the general public - by describing the shots fired by the minister's driver at what later emerged to have been fired into the back of a private citizen's car at body level - are strange in more ways than one. But why, first and foremost, all that effort to cover up for a mere driver? That could be explained by the fact that anything negative involving the home affairs minister, a favourite bête noir of the Opposition, becomes an immediate scandal in the eyes of many. But the government's fumbled attempt of covering up for his driver has backfired.

The transcripts released by the Opposition media leave just one conclusion: the government's actions on the night in question were extremely dubious indeed.

The transcripts show that the home affairs minister's driver told the police control room that he had fired at a car, not warning shots, that he had spoken to the minister himself, and that he has spoken with the head of government communications about the incident as well.

There is no doubt whatsoever that the government and the home affairs minister in particular are in some very hot water over this one.

But when considering the multiple calls for the minister's resignation, one needs to clearly delineate the arguments. Should the minister resign over the actions of his driver, who was off duty at the time but still in possession of the ministerial car when the minister was miles from the scene of the crime(s)? No, we do not believe so.

But the question of whether the minister or anyone else should resign for the way in which the story of the incident was handled in its immediate aftermath, or spun in an alleged cover-up for the driver's wayward actions according to the Opposition, is another story altogether.

The Opposition is demanding the minister's resignation for the grossly incorrect information disseminated to the media after the incident that labelled the incident as a hit and run and warning shots - and it is quite right to do so.

While the normal magisterial inquiry into the shooting incident involving the driver will establish all the facts related to the incident itself beyond reasonable doubt, and the driver is now facing the full brunt of the law for his highly questionable and condemnable behaviour and actions. That action, however, was only taken days after the incident occurred.

But it is not the actions of the wayward police officer that are being called into question. What is highly questionable is the government's alleged attempt to whitewash the situation from the outset.

If the board of inquiry finds that there had been manipulation on the part of the minister or ministry, there will be no other avenue open to the Prime Minister but to order the minister and anyone else responsible to clear his desk.

This issue has put the current government's multiple electoral pledges of accountability and transparency - in many ways the hallmark of its last election campaign - to the harshest test so far in this legislature, tests that have failed continuously time and time again so far in this government's tenure.

The board will present its findings on Tuesday, and the Prime Minister has pledged that the inquiry will be published immediately. 

This affair is a real litmus test for the Prime Minister: everyone involved in this botched cover-up must go, or the Prime Minister will most likely find himself heading for the door in the wake of the next general election.