This newspaper today carries an opinion piece by the Dean of the University of Malta’s Faculty of Laws, Kevin Aquilina, and an interview with MEP and former PM Alfred Sant, both of whom make arguments against the removal of the Attorney General and the Police Commissioner.

Their arguments are very different and we shall try to address them separately.

Professor Aquilina takes things from a legalistic perspective.  He writes that the Civil Society Network is “advocating a callous breach of the rule of law” in that it wants to act as judge and jury with regard to Lawrence Cutajar and Peter Grech and does not want to give them their right to a fair trial.

Aquilina writes that these two public officials cannot be charged and condemned by the people’s court – that there should be an independent inquiry to investigate the proper conduct or otherwise of these two public officers. For the people calling for heads to roll, he writes, “there are no redeeming factors to be taken into consideration as to punishment such as their past good conduct in office, their loyalty to the state, the length of service contributed to law enforcement, the commendations received from their superiors during their career, their adherence to secrecy and confidential provisions of Maltese Law, etc.”

One cannot but agree with Professor Aquilina on the need for the laws to be followed. But then again one cannot blame civil society for calling for Cutajar’s and Grech’s resignation or dismissal.

Many people feel that the loyalty of these officials lies with the party in government, and not with the people. As for their past good conduct and length of service  - these do not count for much after their apparent inaction in the face of the Panama Papers and FIAU report scandals. What the people see are two men that failed to do their duty to bring those who erred to justice.

Again, Aquilina is right in stating that these officials cannot be lynched by a mob and that the rule of law has to be respected. But what about the government? Is it observing the rule of law by hijacking the institutions? Did it follow the rule of law when it refused to sack the officials embroiled in one of Malta’s biggest ever scandals?

Then there is the argument being made by Alfred Sant, who says that the removal of the Police Commissioner and AG would be meaningless and solve nothing. “It would only serve to destabilize the ongoing investigation into the murder when the priority should be to focus all resources on getting that inquiry to run forward on all engines,” he says.

The problem here is that many people do not trust the investigation in the first place, and this because they do not trust the institutions which, they feel, are controlled by Castille.

The way forward is not to breach the rule of law and for people to turn into a lynch mob. The way forward is for the government to acknowldedge the serious failings of these two institutions and, with maturity turn to their heads and say “thank you for your service but your time is now up.”  Then, the government and the opposition should be mature enough to agree on a suitable replacement.

A simpler option would be for the Police Commissioner and the Attorney General to realise that they cannot carry out their duties to their full extent becuase of the lack of trust by the public and just step down.  Only when they leave can faith in these two important institutions be restored.