So according to the Labour Party and its media outlets, it is the Opposition that is ‘doing everything it can to ruin Malta’s reputation’. They will stop at nothing in their quest for power, even at the risk of sacrificing the country’s good international standing.

That, if it were the gospel truth, would be downright despicable. But the fact of the matter is that the assessment is pretty much as far removed from the truth as it gets. There is no doubt that the Opposition has a thirst for power, otherwise what kind of Opposition would it be? But to say, repeatedly, that the Opposition is playing that kind of game is a classic example of deflection.

The latest exercise in deflection was on Friday, when the Opposition described the European Banking Authority starting an investigation into Malta's own Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit over its dubious handling of the Pilatus Bank situation, a slap in the whole country's face.

Yes, it was a slap in the country’s face and it was one that we could have very well expected. But for the governing party to blame the Opposition for the ramifications of the actions of its own members, two of them in particular, are absolutely ludicrous.

That is because anyone with at least two brain cells left realises that the truth of the matter is that the government’s, and by default the country’s, reputation was tarnished the moment Malta and the rest of the world came to know that the Prime Minister’s chief of staff and his chief minister had set up secret and suspicious companies in Panama and accompanying trusts in New Zealand on being elected to office.

It was from that moment on that the eyes of the world were diverted to miniscule Malta and its government. That reputation was tarnished further when the Prime Minister abjectly failed to take any sort of action against the offending pair. And it was tarnished further still when one of the leading critics of those financial misadventures, Daphne Caruana Galizia, was assassinated in such a brutal fashion.

But the government and its trolls are sticking firmly to script. Even a level-headed minister such as Evarist Bartolo recently accused those taking the government to task for the misdeeds perpetrated by members of his government are part of an orchestrated attempt by people who hate the Labour Party so much that they will stop at nothing and even damage the country in the process.

It is not the Opposition exposing or the press reporting the misdeeds of members of this government since the outbreak of the Panama Papers that are causing the real, and perhaps irreparable, harm to the country and to its economic sector.

That harm and shame have increased exponentially by the government’s utter unwillingness to come down in any tangible way, shape or form on those who have, through their actions and inactions, caused the country’s name to be dragged through the mud.

If there were a drawbridge at Castille, it would be raised and secured very tightly indeed, and this pretty much sums up the government’s attitude in a nutshell.

How many European parliamentary rule of law delegations does the country have to endure before any meaningful action is taken? How many pan-European investigations, and we have a good suspicion there are more in store, does the country have to endure because of the nefarious actions of a select few of its corps? How much more of the country’s reputation will be torn to shreds?

 

A first responders foundation

When PC Simon Schembri was so brutally run over and dragged down the road, calls were issued fast and furious for police insurance or some kind of contingency fund to help officers injured in the line of duty. It was as though we were completely caught by surprise and unprepared for a police officer to have been wounded so horrifically.

The government eventually stepped in and said it would cover all the officer’s rehabilitation costs, which is the least that could have been done in such a situation. Before that, well-wishers had begun collecting money to fund what is expected to be a lengthy recovery.

Those funds will now be put toward a new foundation to help injured first responders such as PC Schembri.

Kudos – this is fantastic initiative but it does leave one wondering whether the state should automatically do more for first responders who are injured in action.

We wish Simon Schembri, who at last was discharged from hospital yesterday, a speedy recovery, and the foundation being established in his honour a bright and prosperous future.