A collision between two trains left 43 passengers dead as carriages turned into twisted steel knots in what has become the country’s deadliest rail crash.
Barely a few hours after the accident, Greek Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned, saying he was stepping down as “a basic indication of respect for the memory of the people who died so unfairly”.
He immediately took political responsibility for the accident, adding that he had made “every effort” to improve a railway system that had been “in a state that doesn’t befit the 21st century”.
But “when something like this happens,” he said, “it’s impossible to continue as if nothing had happened”.
It is rare to find political accountability these days, so the Greek minister must be shown respect for his decision to quit.
Karamanlis did not wait for a public inquiry to be set up, listen to witnesses, draw up a report and say that the State had failed to live up to its duties. Or that the system had let the victims down.
He resigned.
Karamanlis did not wait for a magisterial inquiry to be conducted into why the accident took place, and for recommendations to be made into how things can be done better (only for them to never be implemented as the report gathers dust on a shelf).
He resigned.
Karamanlis did not hide behind the myriad excuses politicians always come up each time something under the political responsibility goes awry.
He resigned.
Karamanlis did not say that the tracks had been built by a different government, with a different Prime Minister and with a different Transport Minister.
He resigned.
Karamanlis did not say that he was not an MP or a government consultant when Greece built its train network.
He resigned.
Karamanlis did not say that the Greek Cabinet of Ministers should be held collectively responsible for what happened.
He resigned.
Karamanlis did not shirk his liability by saying “this should not have happened” or blame the Opposition for putting spokes in the government’s wheels.
He resigned.
Karamanlis did not tell the Greek public broadcaster to play down the accident, either.
He resigned.
Karamanlis heard his Prime Minister say that the crash was “mainly due to a tragic human error”. The human error was not Karamanlis’.
But he resigned.
The lesson that this Greek minister has given to Maltese politicians is enormous.
Our ministers do not know what the word accountability means.
Very often, too often they blame everyone but themselves for something that they are politically responsible for. Their first interest is not really the national interest, as they like to say, but to hold on to their seat of power. They defend themselves, and their government, first and foremost, and their only concern is the next election they will contest.
The Greek minister knew that, irrespective of the dynamics of the train accident, he was politically responsible for what happened, and so he quit.
How many Maltese ministers would have done the same thing if something of the sort had happened here?