There are many stories which feature ghosts. Whether we believe in them or not, they always seem to have an effect on us. They come back to haunt us and shake us out of our comfort zones. Manuel Delia’s ghost-writing has recently been resurrected and given flesh and all hell has been let loose.

As is now known by most in this little quagmire of ours, Manuel Delia, at some point in his chequered past, agreed to ghost-write some of Adrian Delia’s articles in the press.

Was it an idiotic thing to do? It sure was and it showed he lacked a mere ounce of proper judgement. Saying he did not know Adrian Delia is hardly a good excuse. As we have been asked many a time—would you go to a brain surgeon who claims he is brilliant but has never treated brains? It was a bird-brained idea; so too was his other reason, that he did it for a “friend” aka Pierre Portelli.

Manuel Delia’s sin was of omission of course—of not saying that for a time, even if short, he believed in Adrian Delia. For the sake of clarity, as far as I know they are not blood relatives although they share the same surname.

Manuel Delia also saw fit to throw Daphne Caruana Galizia’s name into the mix. He said that she knew that he had written those articles. Sounds pretty hollow to me. Her knowing or not changes nothing at all.

If we use the Daphne benchmark, when in 2008, at the time of the Mistra debacle, she backed and voted for Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, she had immediately come out and admitted her mistake. She did not conveniently let it remain uncovered till someone snitched on her. Manuel Delia has, in fact, pointed this out too and admitted his own lack of proper foresight.

Daphne had also considered Cyrus Engerer, when he was still in the PN fold, a rising star. Even here she did not hesitate to admit her lack of proper assessment of another wolf in PN clothing. So even our most intrepid, top investigative journalist erred sometimes. And to err is, after all,human.

Manuel Delia also erred when he said he felt it wasn’t imperative to answer immediately because he was abroad enjoying a meal in a fancy restaurant. That was too much—and inane—information, especially when he should have answered Pierre Portelli’s assertion without wasting a minute. We—and most thinking people in Malta—wanted to hear his version instantly.

Manuel Delia has put quite a few feet wrong. But the next question about this whole affair is: SO?

Should he be barred from commenting about the world—our terribly perverse and corrupt world—of politics? Should we now not read, or hear, his views because of his silly past mistakes?

Of course not.

And yes, I hope Manuel Delia, with his baggage of Arriva, politics and more skeletons in his cupboard, should go on giving this country some fair and well-documented balance to the narrative we are fed every day which is completely hijacked by Joseph Muscat and his band of thieving cronies.

The real loser in all this is the Leader of the Opposition, Adrian Delia. His words will now be scrutinised with everyone wondering whether they are his or whether one of his detractors has ghosted them for him.

Not that there is anything wrong with ghost writing—far from it. But the uncovering of ghost writers is abominable and sneaky. There must be complete trust between the parties and nothing should break the seal of confidentiality.

The worst culprit in all this is Pierre Portelli who did the dirty on Manuel Delia and uncovered a writer who had trusted him. Portelli tried to win brownie points for himself and his PN leader but all he did was further sully both their reputations.

Adrian Delia should immediately rid himself of all those around him who are giving him, even in his most vulnerable moments, the worst advice and assistance possible. Then, to make life easier for all, he should fire himself.

The only man left with more aces in his hands and whose grin grows horrendously wider is Joseph Muscat who sees his team grow in arrogance while his opponents spar on and lose their balance even more.