One man, a decent honest sort, was on Wednesday made to be a scapegoat for decades of neglect in our institutions and infrastructure related to home affairs and justice.

Broadly speaking, the responsibilities falling under this minister’s remit were the Police Corps, the Army, the Civil Protection Department, immigration, the Law Courts, tribunals and many, many others.

Dr Carm Mifsud Bonnici is a decent, honest and hardworking fellow. He had two of the most challenging areas in Cabinet – both of which are cash-starved and underserved. Many of the issues highlighted by the PL in its motion were correct. There are problems in prison. It is overcrowded and there is a drug problem. There is an inmate hierarchy and there are some warders who take back-handers. But this is the same challenge that every minister with the same responsibilities faces all over the world. These problems did not suddenly appear out of nowhere. These are problems that have been building up over decades. In fact, it is only now that they are starting to be addressed. This newspaper did have the opportunity to enter prison and explore at will, picking cells it desired to inspect. We were not shocked.

Are there problems at the CCF? Yes. Have many others been solved? Yes, again.

The rotten apples were also being slowly weeded out of the Police Corps. Its head, John Rizzo, working tirelessly even after serious illness to improve the level of officers and constables. He too has limited resources and even though we might not agree with his style of handling the media, we know that he too is honest and committed to fighting crime – even with limited resources. Are there problems? Yes. Have other problems been solved over the years? Yes, again.

There are problems in the Law Courts too. Backbencher Franco Debono raised many issues about court. Some of them, we wholeheartedly agree with – the right to legal assistance and more transparency and recourse to justice – and anyone who lives in a democracy holds the same values true.

We also agree with him when he raises what he said might seem to be frivolous issues, such as the use of antiquated tape recorders in court and furniture that is shoddy and falling to bits. But he, as a practising lawyer, should also know that a substantial amount of problems are caused by resistance to change by lawyers and members of the Judiciary. Examples include the introduction of video-conference testimony and the resistance to digitalisation. There was also the much-resisted security system installed at the entrance. Resistance was stiff; two weeks later in Austria, a knife attack took place in a courtroom.

Are there problems in the Law Courts? Yes. Have many others been solved? Yes, again.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici might not have sorted every problem in our little goldfish bowl, but he worked hard and he made a lot of progress; slowly, surely and without pomp. We dare say that he made more progress than Malta’s most renowned doer – Austin Gatt, who was one of his predecessors. The Prime Minister, though, has a lot on his hands if he intends on retaining the portfolio till the end of this legislature.

We will also say that Dr Mifsud Bonnici is one of the most down-to-earth and decent politicians in the current legislature. But we cannot understand why it is he who became Dr Debono’s target. We believe Dr Mifsud Bonnici will bounce back, he has the integrity and the fibre to do so.