Parliamentary Secretary for Animal Rights Clint Camilleri apparently needs reminding that his remit is the protection of animals' rights, and not the hunters' rights.
And for his abject failure to appreciate this simple fact, he is no longer fit for purpose, his position is no longer tenable and he needs to be reassigned to a portfolio in which he does not suffer from such a glaring conflict of interest.
That is because yesterday, as reported elsewhere in today's edition, he let his true colours show when he engaged in a very public social media argument with BirdLife Malta, in which he also pointed an accusing finger at the 'independent' media. The spat was construed as the parliamentary secretary having gone to war with the very people he is meant to be supporting, to be sitting around a table with and figuring out exactly how to stop the scourge of illegal hunting that is plaguing the country.
The parliamentary secretary accused BirdLife Malta and the independent media of 'ignoring positive news and inflating the few illegalities...well done' after news that not a single protected bid was shot down in Buskett even though hundreds of birds of prey had roosted there.
Excuse us, is anyone actually meant to be impressed that no protected birds were gunned down over Buskett? This supposed to be the norm, not the exception to be bragged about. And in bragging about the fact that no protected birds were shot out of the skies over a very short time frame, the parliamentary secretary has actually unintentionally conceded just how bad the problem that he is meant to be addressing is.
At first we had given the relatively young parliamentary secretary the benefit of the doubt. Yes, he is a declared hunter but that does not necessarily mean he would have a twisted view of the situation. The Prime Minister, after all, knows what he is doing when he appoints his Cabinet and surely he had assurances from his then-prospective parliamentary secretary that he would be impartial when it comes to the protection of animals, and of the feathered variety in particular.
Plus, we thought a hunter-cum-politician might be just the ticket to once and for broker some kind of peace between the ever-warring hunting and ornithological communities - provided, as we had assumed that the person in question would be impartial, mature and diplomatic enough to pull of such a feat.
We had fostered high hopes, momentarily, but we were wrong. After yesterday's social media antics, the man is clearly not up to this lofty assignment, if that was his assignment in the first place.
After yesterday's antics, we now very clearly understand that the parliamentary secretary is absolutely unfit for his specific purpose. Birds, of course, are not the only animals he is meant to be protecting but, as they say, what's good for the goose is good for the gander and at this stage we are not ever too sure that he has the interests of other animals at heart either.
After those antics on social media for the entire country to view like some kind of spectator sport, he needs to be shown the door and be replaced by someone more temperate in nature, a person who can refrain from jibes and sarcasm and who can really bring both sides of this long-running war around the same table to talk like rational adults.
As such, the current parliamentary secretary for animal rights has to go, or at least be reassigned to a new parliamentary secretariat where he can cause less damage, where he does not have a vested interest in such a sensitive and polarising issue.
Even an apology will not suffice, the damage has been done and, we believe, no amount backtracking, if there is to be any, will heal this. This trust factor, if there ever was one, has now been permanently broken.