However as Harry Truman succinctly put it: “The buck stops here”, and though it may be easy to be an armchair critic, the hard decisions must be taken by someone. It is not any different in Malta where parliamentary secretary Dr Karm Mifsud Bonnici has been bestowed several hot potatoes within the ministry for Justice and Home Affairs, amongst which are the law courts, the attorney general’s office and local government.
The role of the legislature is to legislate and I ask Dr Karm, as his Cottonera constituents call him, about the many disparate activities that our politicians seem to be involved in. “It is important for us to keep in touch with the people on behalf of whom the decisions are being taken. Every Sunday I try to go round the local clubs and once a week I receive people who want to express their grievances. This is important because there you can see and feel where the problems are and which are really the people’s concerns.”
One of the first things which Dr Mifsud Bonnici did was the introduction of the concept of mediation in the family courts. “Before, we were inclined to set spouses against each other, with both lawyers trying to get the best deal, but now we have trained mediators who are changing the attitude of the couple from one of confrontation to one of a willingness to reach an amicable agreement. Last month new measures were declared which will render certain court procedures faster.” Another problem that is regularly in the news is the so called illegal immigrants and Dr Mifsud Bonnici believes that Malta cannot be an open port. “But we do our best to distinguish between those who are persecuted and suffer politically and those who do not. But we must always accept that it is not always that easy to integrate them in our society.” Are these immigrants ‘diluting’ our culture and our very ‘being Maltese’? He is emphatic that this is not the case. “We have been a melting pot of so many different cultures throughout our long history and this is just a continuation.”
Dr Karm Mifsud Bonnici comes from a long line of distinguished politicians and this makes him feel that he has more responsibility not to tarnish the reputation of his forebears. “Actively participating in politics was a conscious decision on my part. I could have chosen to dedicate myself to academia, but I felt that there are certain things in our society which need to change and I can only accomplish this through politics. I believe for example that our society needs a new constitution which reflects today’s reality and which will serve us for the next half century. Another thing I would like to see introduced is the setting up of a separate and distinct administrative court which should allow every citizen to complain to the state and obtain redress. We speak about the administration’s accountability without the necessary legal structures for this to be checked and controlled.”
The changes which this man is catalysing are several, from the modernisation of the archives system in the courts to the strengthening of the arbitration centre. From rebuilding parts of the law courts to restructuring the Attorney General’s office. Local councils are another area he is working on and he explains how a policy is being planned that coordinates all the local council libraries so that books can be bought in bulk, thus saving funds. His constituency features prominently too and he talks about the Number 1 dock in Cospicua, the building of new flats and the numerous restoration projects in this area that is so rich in history.
Finally I ask Dr Mifsud Bonnici about his frequent reference to religion in his writings: His answer: “Religion, the Christian faith, is the fountain of wisdom and a strong guarantee for democracy, the respect for life against extremism and sterile materialism.”