Dr Konrad Mizzi, Minister for Energy and Health, during question time last Wednesday impulsively levelled a scathing attack,hurling insults, at Dr Simon Busuttil, Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.

The vociferous, fiery and loud young Minster was not able to control himself, made a scene and stultified himself. Dr Mizzi failed to give a straight-forward and adequate answer to a legitimate question posed by Dr Busuttil.

Encouraged by some of his colleagues, in an attempt to hide his blushes and save face he opted to launch a vociferous attack on Dr Busuttil. He repeatedly yelled “You are not fit for purpose”“Shame on you” “Shame on you”.

All efforts by Mr Speaker to bring order in the House proved futile. Left with no other option Mr. Speaker ordered Dr Mizzi’s microphone to be switched-off. After a short while, Dr Mizzi composed himself. The Speaker of the House Dr Anglu Farrugia counselled Dr Mizzi to answer the question and instructed him to stop shouting drivel.  Dr Mizzi should thank Mr. Speaker for his timely action and guidance.

All hell broke loose in the House at the genuine question addressed to Minister Dr Mizzi.  Putting aside for a moment the over-reaction by Minister Dr Mizzi,his verbal’s and non-verbal’s gave rise to more inquisitive questions and fuelleddoubts than addressed about the Mater Dei Hospital poor concrete quality inquiry.

For some reason Dr Mizzi ignored that earlier it was made amply clear, bothby the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister and still are on the same wavelength,on theallegedly weak concrete used in the structures of Mater Dei Hospital. Both are on record, both want to find who was responsible for the allegedlyuse of weak concrete in the Mater Dei Hospital structures.

Since there is this broad understanding, the least one would expect is the uncanny creation of some discord because of the methodology adopted during the inquirychaired by Judge Emeritus Philip Sciberras.

In this regard it is very difficult, if one can ever come up with justification to understand the reasoning behind the decision to allow Dr Alex Sciberras, Judge Emeritus Sciberras’sson to actively participate in this high-profile inquiry. 

Whether there is conflict of interest between the retired Judge and his son, a lawyer by profession who is taking a leading rolein these investigations remains to be seen. But quite frankly, why on earth politicians and their advisors take such risks is beyond any level-headed person.

Now that the conflict of interest issue has been raised the inquiry should stop, take stock of the findings and ensure that legally there is no conflict of interest which may impact on the findings of the inquiry.

For accountability and transparency sake this responsibility should be shouldered by Minister Dr Konrad Mizzi.

Dr Mizzi should take action now to ensure that in the event the inquiry identifies who was responsible for the allegedly supply of weak concrete at Mater Dei no one should walk free because of a technical blunder or conflict of interest.

Allegedly there are huge amounts of public funds involved.

Having said this I have to point out that thenew majestic parliament at the entrance of our city a few metres away from the rehabilitated old opera house is a brilliant idea. But whoever, spear-headed the idea to have Parliament and the Old Opera House buildings adjacent to each other is a master-mind.It is now falling into place.

Last Wednesday Parliamentary session was a case in point.

On a different level, but nonetheless commendable,is the effort of the Speaker ofthe House to have allparliamentary sittings televised.  Indeed this may be an opportunity for artistic-directorsand script-writers with fertile imagination to produce anational tragic-comedy production, within minimum costs asmost of the actors in the House attend rehearsals on a regular basis.   

Regrettably politics as anoble instrument to serve the countryis being taken over by secondary issues and partisan politics.This does not augur well to our islands.  The PL accountability, transparency, meritocracy and doing things differently from the previous administration promises have vanished from the PM vocabulary already. 

Political theatrics will not improve the quality of life of people.   

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