Only a few weeks ago, when it was clear that the situation in Libya had deteriorated to the point where people’s lives were in danger, the press asked our foreign minister about any possible plans for evacuation of Maltese citizens, and he responded that there were no such plans because the situation was “calm but fluid”.

The press questions about evacuation continued and intensified as the United States closed its embassy and evacuated its 150 staff across the border into Tunisia. Meanwhile, the Maltese ambassador left for safety, the Maltese consul had been recalled already to face a police investigation and disciplinary action, richer Libyans were and are flooding in to Malta and renting flats in Sliema and St Julian’s, and still the government did not budge on plans to evacuate Maltese citizens.

“Those who wish to leave” – making it seem this was a capricious choice – “should do so using commercial means and pay for their own flights,” we were told. With the airport closed and commercial flights reduced to the random sortie by Medavia, the result was predictable chaos and the return of many stressed-out men claiming their requests for assistance had been ignored. Even when you would think a turning-point had been reached with the abduction of a Maltese citizen and his disappearance for 11 days, the government carried on with its ‘make your own way back if you want to’ approach. Meanwhile, it helped China evacuate Chinese citizens through Malta while refusing to evacuate Maltese citizens. And in the thick of all this, our Minister of the Interior, Manuel Mallia, signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation on illegal immigration, with his Libyan counterpart, for all the world as though Libya is not in the throes of anarchy and civil war. That Minister of the Interior was probably in Malta only because he was en route to Zurich or Vienna, in search of a more comfortable berth for the duration. He might have stayed in Malta, but perhaps the idea of being given a flat on one of Malta’s most high-density-traffic roads, with a very conspicuous armed guard, did not appeal.

Now, when things have gone too far and everyone and his brother is closing down embassies and fleeing, our government has decided at last to instruct all Maltese citizens to leave Libya. The request comes not from the Foreign Office but from the head of the civil service, former union boss Mario Cutajar, who heads what the government is calling its “contingency centre”. Flights have been organised from two airports, and those who use them will not have to pay for the privilege – quite unlike those who fled only a little earlier and who were told to pay their own way.

Only, hang on – ex union boss Cutajar is not calling this an evacuation but an “assisted departure”, “because the Maltese diplomatic mission in Tripoli will continue operating”. Weren’t we told earlier that the embassy is closed and that ambassador Manny Galea is either in Tunisia or in Malta, and that is why Martin Galea was dropped off by his abductors at the consular office instead? I might have heard that wrong: perhaps the Maltese embassy in Tripoli is still going strong, with Ambassador Mannie holding the fort as the last diplomat still standing. But no: I see now that what the government meant by “diplomatic mission” is the consular office, though the consul – Marisa Farrugia – is in Malta. And even the consular office will shut up shop today.

Was there ever such a government which fidgets about with words, this side of democracy? Malta is hastening its citizens out of Libya on free flights which the government has organised and paid for, but the government insists it is not “evacuation” because the consular office (minus the consul) is still technically open. As soon as the free flights are done, the consular office will close down. And that way the government will have got the last remaining Maltese citizens out of Libya while still being able to say that it never evacuated anyone. Of course, we must ask why it is so keen to be seen – by Libya? – as not having evacuated its citizens.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Office has released a statement saying that it is “constantly monitoring the situation in Libya” – which is a bit like the Meteorological Office releasing a statement telling the public that it is constantly monitoring the weather – and confirming that Libya is in a “dire situation”, which is a bit like the Meteorological Office telling us, in the middle of a thunderstorm which we can see, hear and feel, that we are in the middle of a thunderstorm.

The Foreign Office also said that it has operated a ‘crisis centre’, which might or might not be the same thing as Mario Cutajar’s ‘contingency centre’ since 16 July and that it has been “offering Maltese citizens assisted departure services”. Yet we have heard nothing but complaints from Maltese citizens who tried to leave Libya but got no help, and who struggled out of that country under their own steam.

I think what we are dealing with here is a situation in which certain people have found it difficult to admit error and are still trying to find ways of not having to admit to assessing the Libyan scenario so badly, to the point of signing, with much pomp, memorandums of understanding with besieged ministers from that country. It’s not very grown-up, but there you go.