In what cannot be described as a big majority, 54.5 per cent of respondents participating in an online poll on The Malta Independent’s website said they agreed with the decision of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi not to accept Roads and Urban Development Minister Jesmond Mugliett’s resignation.

However, the remaining 45.5 per cent disagreed with the prime minister’s decision and said that he should have accepted the resignation.

One respondent said that accepting Mr Mugliett’s resignation was the responsible thing to do.

Another reader pointed out that Mr Mugliett was wrong and that whether he was waiting for a presidential pardon or not, “the employees concerned should simply have been suspended.”

He went on to add that if these mistakes are pardoned, more people will continue behaving like them and it will be useless complaining about civil servants.

One respondent spoke out against the media, claiming that it is “quick to pronounce judgement on the Prime Minister and his Cabinet Ministers while not knowing all the facts, or what is known is rearranged to justify their position.”

He said that the media had failed to “remember their responsibility for reporting and not creating news… and at the same time give credence to the opposition’s mud-slinging tactics.”