Dear Dr Gonzi,

We don’t seem to be on speaking terms. However, the four words I painted on a poster are said to have been noted by you. Hopefully, a full-blown letter might be read with the same rapt attention and mulled over with the same degree of intensity. You see, Dr Gonzi, I have many questions to ask you. Quite a few popped into my head when I caught sight of you inaugurating a three-month old five-star hotel in Balluta Bay. It belongs to Charles Caqnu Polidano, the same person who just a few days ago, ran across a crowded square and slapped me on the face over the head of my two-year old daughter, terrorising her and other young children in the process. But that is by the by, and Mr Polidano will have had ample opportunity to present his version of events.

Mr Polidano has been in the news lately. In an interview published on 2 June, the MEPA audit officer Joe Falzon singled out a case that represents all that is wrong with this country. A case where the authorities showed us how Mr Polidano is treated by the authorities. Does this sound familiar, Dr Gonzi? Just in case, you don’t have the press clipping somewhere handy, I’ll remind you. In his report, Mr Falzon stated:

“In my report I made a comment to which the MEPA took exception. It was the only comment they reacted to. I said they had chosen to take an easy decision to avoid a more painful one in connection with the same developer. I have no problem specifying which case I was referring to – the Solemar Hotel case. Not only did he (Charles Polidano) develop the land illegally, but he also encroached on public land. Instead of sending a bulldozer and pulling the thing down his development was sanctioned. Moreover, the land was sold to him and he was given the right of first refusal.”

What do you make of that Dr Gonzi? Don’t you find that shocking? Maybe you can dismiss it and put it down to the government headed by your predecessor – a sort of let bygones be bygones sort of thing. I’d have expected you to act differently if something like that happened on your watch. But when the Xemxija case cropped up (if you haven’t had time to chat about this over canapés after the hotel tour – it’s the one where the hillside was hacked away illegally leaving a house hanging precariously in mid-air), we got more of the same. An inquiry board was set up – it gave its damning indictment and then we conveniently forgot about it. Where is that report now, Dr Gonzi? Stashed away under a thousand and one hotel brochures, or pictures of me with my poster to be used for dart practice? What concrete action are you going to take about it? Please don’t give us that waffle about the inquiry simply being there to make proposals. With the number of proposals that have been made, you’re starting to look like the girl everybody wants to marry.

The inquiry report states that there have been 82 stop and enforcement notices issued to the same developer. Even if we had to assume that these were given out over the past 10 years, it adds up to a very unhealthy total. How many times was direct action taken and illegal development removed? I don’t know Dr Gonzi; I’m guessing that it happened in a very small number of cases. I would love to be proved wrong.

The compilers of the report down a challenge for you, Dr Gonzi – they asked the authorities (not only MEPA) to give out a clear message which shows that they are not willing to tolerate a situation where one particular individual feels that he can defy the powers of the State and does whatever he wants with no regard to laws or established rules. What are you going do about it? Will you finally take action or shoot the messenger again? Do you find it easier to pillory the critic rather than the law-breaker?

I am sure that Charles Polidano is not the only contravener of our planning laws – his flouting of the law happens to be very clearly documented and publicised as are his political connections – I mean, is it every hotel that gets the Prime Minister to inaugurate its premises? There are other titans in the construction and business camps.

They straddle both sides of the political divide, enjoying the immunity, protection and friendship of MLPN politicians. I do not envy their millions, their concrete palaces, their gas-guzzling mega-cars. They are theirs to enjoy. But they have taken something from me Dr Gonzi; they have completely destroyed my faith in the legal system. They have made me realise that they can get away with anything – that the law affords no protection and no safeguard from the rich and powerful. With the complicity of the authorities they have undermined the rule of law and are laughing at the rest of us. We have to cower in their shadows – ordinary people who have become second-class citizens doomed to carving out a life for ourselves in the debris they engulf us in. That, Dr Gonzi, is the truth – the truth that resonates deep within every Maltese person’s soul. It is a sad and frightening truth, one which we have had to face everyday and which we have become so accustomed to, that we have accepted it as inevitable. We go about our lives knowing that there are two classes of people – the untouchables and the unprotected. Whose side are you on, Dr Gonzi?

Yours sincerely,

Claire Bonello