When the minister responsible for IT narrated in Parliament the series of events following the serious attempt to invade the privacy of thousand of Maltese citizens, many level-headed people realised that in this country their personal affairs can so easily become public know-ledge without their approval. The minister failed to convince us that there is nothing more serious than abuse by one or more individuals who so far remain unidentified.

The Labour Party insisted on a magisterial inquiry because this is the best method offered by our legal system for investigating serious crimes that have an impact on the interests of a multitude of people. The minister was mistaken politically to refuse to agree to a magisterial inquiry.

The defence of people’s right to privacy should go beyond partisan considerations. We have lost an opportunity to show everyone in and outside Malta that we manage our IT systems professionally and that we will do whatever it takes to identify the real abusers of our information systems.

The minister was also unwise not to accept the resignations of the board of directors of MITTS who did the decent thing and offered them. So who is going to be held accountable when the investigations are concluded? Are we going to lump all the blame on some civil servant and ignore the corporate and political responsibility attached to such serious incidents?

For far too long this country has allowed corporate governance in the public sector to deteriorate to the extent that decent citizens have lost faith in the ability of these organisations to manage publicly-owned resources efficiently. No wonder so many people have become cynical and are not surprised when publicly appointed officials and elected politicians fail in the duty of care resulting from their position of trust.

The time has come to ensure that anyone in a position of trust has to be held accountable for his or her actions. Connivance between politicians and public officials to plaster over serious cracks in the systems of management of public affairs should no longer be tolerated in a country that is aspiring to be a centre of excellence in the EU.

We have shown that in matters of national interest we will put aside partisan considerations and cooperate with the government to act with our full support to introduce any measures that enhance our country’s position. We have done this even recently, when we supported the government’s measures aimed at supporting local banks, should this be necessary.

We were, and still are, available to support measures by the government to improve the standards of the corporate management in Malta’s public sector companies. It seems that the present administration is not really interested in this. They keep appointing directors and senior officials to the top positions of our organisations on criteria that go beyond the criteria of competence.

Very competent people who do not play the political game are simply ignored because they are not trusted sufficiently.

The victims of such short-sighted policies are the people of this country who have to make do with shabby treatment on the part of some of our public organisations.

The government should change its attitude of taking the opposition in its trust only when it is politically convenient to do so.

The serious breach of security at MITTS provided the Gonzi administration with an excellent opportunity to show that the protection of people’s right to privacy is of paramount importance that it is prepared to defend in a non-partisan way.

People are not fools. They are now silently watching how their rights are being put at risk and how the government is refusing to come clean through a magisterial inquiry to establish all the facts relating to the case. Sooner or later, they will express their condemnation of those politicians who have failed to protect their rights.