One of the latest sagas hitting the headlines in the past week is concerning the government elderly home situated in Cospicua.

Residents were shocked a couple of weeks ago when they were told that they had a couple of days notice to choose an alternative home to stay in, and be evacuated from their current residence.

The matter has since developed into a saga punctuated by a lack of transparency as to what the exact technical reasons for the evacuation of residents were, and by a lack of an inquiry or investigations into the matter.

Active Aging Minister Jo Etienne Abela said Friday that he is waiting for parliamentary questions to be submitted for him to table reports about structural deficiencies at the Cospicua home for the elderly, which led the government to decide to evacuate the residents of the home and transfer them to other facilities.

But such a PQ has already been submitted by Nationalist Party MP Paula Mifsud Bonnici on 31 May, which the minister answered on 5 June, saying that what is discussed in Cabinet is confidential, without tabling the said reports.

Earlier, Abela said that there is no need for an inquiry on the Cospicua home.

Residents of the home will be transferred to other government facilities in the coming days. The Ministry for Active Ageing said the residence requires work to ensure it “conforms to the high standards and levels of dignity that the government requires of homes for the elderly.”

The residents at the home have protested against the move, with the Nationalist Party also calling for an inquiry into why the home, built in 1997, needs to be evacuated.

But the minister told journalists on Friday that there is no need for such an inquiry. “We have concerns about health and safety” issues at the home, he said.

The minister said that there are reports that indicate “serious doubts” on the structure of the home.

As minister responsible, he said that he cannot ignore such reports. “When I see such results, I do not need an inquiry.”

During a political meeting on Sunday however, PN MP Paula Mifsud Bonnici said that the Social Care Standards Authority (SCSA) which said that Cospicua elderly home should be demolished had previously granted a license certificate that is valid till the end of January 2024 saying that it is up to standards.

She showed the certificate that the SCSA granted for the elderly home and said that this was the same Authority that carried out inspections last December and highlighted a number of problems with the building.

So one must question here: what changed in the last six or so months?  No building dramatically deteriorates in that space of time, so did the SCSA follow the correct procedures to license the building if it was indeed subject to structural issues?

That is a question of more significance, because if the SCSA did hand out a license even though the building is facing structural issues which are a risk to the safety of its residents, then that throws into question their whole modus operandi.

It is a consideration that makes an inquiry all the more necessary: firstly we must understand how such a building was built with an apparent lifespan of just 26 years, but we must then also understand why this building was cleared for use when it perhaps shouldn’t have been cleared.

Unfortunately, in the midst of all this, it is the residents who are suffering the greatest consequences, because they have to be moved to somewhere they don’t necessarily want to go and somewhere which is quite likely to be away from their hometowns as well.

Because indeed, it is almost always the people who will suffer in the end.