PN leader Simon Busuttil said today that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has abdicated his responsibility and failed in his first leadership test.

He has shown himself to be a weak Prime Minister who did not have the courage to tell a minister that he should leave office and instead left it up to the same minister to decide whether to resign or not.

Dr Busuttil was speaking at a press conference the day after the PM asked the Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia to resign following the publication of a report of the inquiry carried out by three former judges at the behest of the PM.

We are also in a situation when the Home Affairs Minister has not resigned and yet the OPM has announced the swearing-in ceremony of his replacement.

"The fact that Manuel Mallia has not resigned as yet, despite a swearing-in ceremony to take place at 2 p.m., has confused the country," he said.

"What we saw unfold during the last hours is that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat failed his first big test when he did not force Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia to resign and left it up to him whether he should resign or not," he said. "It shows he is weak," Dr Busuttil said on Dr Muscat.

Dr Busuttil questioned whether Dr Muscat's latest decisions show that he is weak to take tougher decisions that he may face in the future.

He said that according to the inquiry, the Prime Minister went to bed after speaking with his communications coordinator. At a time when one of his ministers was involved in such a delicate situation, the PM preferred to go to bed, Dr Busuttil said. Unless, of course, this is part of a plan to cover up for the Prime Minister.

Dr Busuttil observed that it is not clear whether Dr Mallia resigned however Dr Mallia should have resigned from the very beginning, the day the incident took place. But Dr Muscat chose to wait for the conclusions of the inquiry report. This shows he is weak when it comes to handling certain situations.

On Kurt Farrugia, the head of communications at OPM, Dr Busuttil said it is strange that the inquiry did not find anything wrong with Mr Farrugia despite the fact that he was the person who wrote the first incorrect press release. It is strange that Dr Mallia was found to have erred when the person who wrote the statement was not. 

On former Acting Commissioner of Police Ray Zammit, Dr Busuttil said he could not understand how Dr Muscat placed him second in command after the inquiry established that he had failed in hism professional duties.

Dr Busuttil said it was unnecessary to remove John Rizzo from commissioner of police in the first place and, since then, there have been three changes.

He said the inquiry board did not call Dr Muscat or his chief of staff, Keith Schembri, to interview them and therefore they do not know whether the two were involved.

Asked if he has confidencein Carmelo Abela, who is being named as Dr Mallia's replacement, he said he would rather wait for the outcome since Dr Mallia has not resigned as yet.                                

He said that the new police commissioner has a massive responsibility to see that the police force is led in a proper way and to see that certain individuals implicated in the shooting incident would be taken up to court.

Asked by this newsroom if it bothered him that Dr Muscat did not answer to journalists' questions , Dr Busuttil said "I will leave it to the people to decide, especially when he chose to give a briefing to the press unlike when he announced the meagre two cents decrease in petrol prices."

He also suggested that the Prime Minister takes the opportunity to reduce the huge portfolio Dr Mallia had and share the responsibilities he had among more ministers.

Follow press conference below