It's been over 200 days since Jean Paul Sofia tragically lost his life last December.

The 20-year-old died after a factory which was being built in the Corradino Industrial Estate collapsed while he was in it on 3 December last year.

It's been over 200 days since his family lost their loved one and started mourning his death. Since then, we have seen pleas by his family for a public inquiry to be appointed. His friends have hung banners calling for justice.

Yet the government, led by Prime Minister Robert Abela, has persisted in its total disregard of pleas for a public inquiry to be appointed.

Abela, instead, had been trying to pressure the magistrate leading the ongoing magisterial inquiry to speed up the process. He had written to the Chief Justice over the "totally unacceptable" delays to the finalisation of the magisterial inquiry looking into Jean Paul Sofia's death in a construction collapse. "When one considers the sensitivity of the case, this is a totally unacceptable delay, even considering the efficiency that the courts presided over by yourself are consistently showing," Abela had said.

While the need for urgency in magisterial inquiries is understandable. What is not understandable, is Abela's reluctance to launch a public inquiry.

Lawyer Mark Said, in an opinion article he wrote earlier this week on The Malta Independent, had said: "In Jean Paul's case, a public inquiry is warranted, and the focus should be to establish the facts, find out what happened, why it happened, who may be accountable, and try to learn lessons to prevent a recurrence of the events. This inquiry, by law, can only be launched by the prime minister himself or by the minister responsible for the construction sector." A magisterial inquiry will only establish if there is anyone to be held criminally responsible, he wrote.

Sofia's family have been calling for a public inquiry, arguing that "scope of a public inquiry is to identify what led to the incident and whether any amendments or new laws can be implemented so that no mother can go through what she is going through."

We have had two prominent public inquiries recently, one regarding the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and another regarding Bernice Cassar. In both cases, the State was to some extent or other blamed. Could it be that Abela now fears public inquiries lest there be some shortcomings by the State?

There have been many construction related tragedies over the years. Aside from Sofia's case, one could mention Miriam Pace's tragedy for instance.

Earlier this year, this newsroom reported that a total of eight deaths took place on construction sites in 2022, according to figures obtained from the Occupational Health and Safety Authority. This is eight deaths too many.

As a general comment, while the government has been working to improve the sector, such as through the regime that will eventually lead to the licensing of contractors, one hopes that enough is being done from the health and safety aspect to prevent future tragedies.