Prime Minister Robert Abela accused the Opposition of putting up a show in their quest to have him appoint a public inquiry to look into the death of a young man on a construction site late last year.

In his address to Parliament on Thursday, Abela immediately apologised to the man’s family if something he was to say appeared “insensitive”. It means that he knew that his words would have hurt. And they did. Abela knew he could never justify his resistance to the call for a public inquiry.

Jean Paul Sofia, aged 20, died in Kordin when a building under construction collapsed on 3 December 2022. His mother Isabelle Bonnici has been urging the government to set up a public inquiry ever since. Abela and his government continue to turn down her plea. Abela insists that a magisterial inquiry is enough. He knows it is not. A public inquiry will attempt to answer questions which a magisterial inquiry will not. This is why the Opposition is saying that the government is trying to hide something which could be uncovered only if a public inquiry takes place.

The Opposition’s motion, calling for a public inquiry, will be defeated when the vote is taken. Labour MPs, instead, will be saying yes to the amendments to the motion which the government has presented, removing all reference to the public inquiry and saying the magisterial inquiry should be concluded as quickly as possible. Whether they all agree with the position taken by the government in this regard is another matter. Many of them seemed uncomfortable facing Bonnici outside Parliament last week. Maybe they could not face the grieving mother knowing that they agree with her but are forced to toe the party line.

In a society that has progressively lost much of its values, a society that treats serious matters frivolously, and frivolous matters seriously, the position taken by the government is sending another wrong message.

Over the last years, we have experienced a general decline. Maybe we were already on the way down, but social media has made the situation much worse, helping to expose more how, collectively speaking, we give value to what is worthless and give no worth to what is precious.

That, these past few days for example, the break-up of a couple, two weeks after winning a television show, generated more interest, even in some sections of the traditional media, than the deaths of three young men in the prime of their life is symptomatic of the kind of society we are living in. It is so sad to see the idolisation of people whose only merit is spending six weeks in a villa and getting filmed for it, and even sadder that, then, they are invited for lunch with the Prime Minister’s wife and daughter. Is this the kind of association the Abelas want their daughter to have? Shouldn’t children be shown good examples to follow?

It is the kind of society that the government is fomenting. We have said it many times – the government thrives on the panem et circenses concept, keeping people happy with cheques and entertainment while the country is wallowing in corruption and scandals. The “anything goes” mentality has permeated through so deep that it is hard to see us ever climbing back up.

This has also affected our communal life. There was a time when we were known to be merciful and kind to each other; today our main characteristics are greed and selfishness.

And cruelty too. Just take a look at the verbal abuse that has been directed at Sofia’s mother to get an idea of what we’re talking about.

This takes us back to the ordeal that Sofia’s family and friends have gone through since that tragic December day. They have had no peace and no justice. Their appeals have not been heard. Their questions have not been answered.

The Prime Minister is right about one thing – that the magisterial inquiry should be concluded in the shortest time possible. It has already taken too long. But this does not exclude the need for a public inquiry, which could determine other factors that are not covered by the magisterial investigation.

What is also important is that, once the magisterial inquiry is finished, it should not gather dust on some shelf.

Too often it has happened in the past that, in their reports, magistrates make recommendations that are not followed or, worse, their calls for further investigations or action to be taken are ignored. This is one of the reasons why, unfortunately, this administration has become known as one that nurtures the culture of impunity.