Reference is being made to the above-mentioned story carried in the 26 May edition of The Malta Independent on Sunday.

Unfortunately, the story was given an intended spin that was grossly unfair as the picture portrayed was that of a government trying hard to rush through appointments to the judiciary in order to accommodate people “very close to the Labour administration” before its reform sees the light of day.

While it is true that on 13 March 2013 I had informed Cabinet that the government needed to urgently appoint two members of the judiciary, it is not true that these appointments had anything to do with “swiftly accommodating people before the reform”. 

The truth is quite simple. There are currently two vacancies in the judiciary due to Judge Pace’s resignation (which had happened three whole months before the new government’s swearing in) and Magistrate J. Apap Bologna’s retirement that occurred in that same period. The government has acted immediately to fill those two vacancies using a prudent and diligent approach and the actual names of the new members of the judiciary will be published imminently. 

I can assure everyone that the government went for quality and integrity above anything else. 

Contrary to what used to happen beforehand, I made sure that logistically everything was in place before the swearing in so that the new members of the judiciary can hit the ground running. The government owes it to the people to see that the judiciary has its full complement so that the problem of court delays is not augmented further by a lack of personnel in the judiciary, independently of the conclusions of the preliminary report of the Justice Reform Commission, which incidentally will be published very soon. 

We cannot simply wait for the measures contemplated by the reform to be implemented before the end of the year to urgently fill the two vacancies in the judiciary.

Owen Bonnici

Parliamentary Secretary of Justice