Nationalist MPs said Tuesday that under Robert Abela’s leadership, Ministers Miriam Dalli, Silvio Schembri, and Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi led “an intentionally fragmented system” and repeated their calls for the three ministers to resign.

Shadow Ministers Stanley Zammit and Ryan Callus said in a press conference that the fragmentation that existed between government entities, mainly Malta Enterprise and INDIS Malta, led to the sub-par transparency and accountability that led to poor governance. Zammit described how this enabled a system in which “whoever does not have good intentions could manoeuvre past regulatory measures and make life difficult for those with good intentions.”

He continued that such fragmentation creates red tape, excess bureaucracy, and unnecessary delays – conditions that he described to be “fertile ground for corruption.” Zammit then added that “the report is clear” in who should take full responsibility following its publication; he said that resignations are “pointless” if none are taken at a political level.

Zammit, PN’s Shadow Minister for planning and lands, quoted Miriam Dalli herself from a speech she had given in September 2020, back when she was still an MEP. During this speech three and a half years ago, Dalli noted that “For all members of the European Union, to harness a stable business environment and to safeguard European citizen life, good governance is essential. Ensuring transparency and accountability are key together with providing citizens with an effective, efficient and inclusive system.”

He said that “Dalli and everyone else in Abela’s government” went against these words when they initially voted against having a public inquiry opened into the case of Jean Paul Sofia. Zammit said that in this instance, they all “voted against a great exercise of transparency and accountability for not just Sofia’s parents, family and loved ones, but also for the general public.”

Ryan Callus, PN’s Shadow Minister for energy, research and innovation, said that, “so far, we have only had administrative resignations” and no political resignations since the only resignations that have been filed have come from top positions within government entities, rather than from the ministerial level too. He detailed that to the Government, the resignations seen so far are “conveniently enough” to satisfy the political outrage, following the publication of the Sofia inquiry report.

Callus reiterated that Ministers Dalli, Schembri, and Zrinzo Azzopardi all resign since they are the ones responsible for appointing the persons from within the relevant government entities. He also said that, contrarily, the Labour government is trying to perceive the situation as if “the government is one side and the government entities are on another, as if they don’t and are not meant to communicate with one another.”

“Who appointed these persons however? These are all persons of trust, persons appointed by our politicians. Therefore they are responsible as politicians for the action, or lack thereof, of the persons who have already resigned.” Callus said.

He then called for clear political will from the politicians running the country. According to Callus, clear political will, in this case, can only come about through the enforcement of laws by giving public entities the means and people that are required. He then concluded that it is for this reason that the Nationalist Party, through its leader Bernard Grech, has announced that it will call for a no-confidence vote into the three aforementioned ministers in the coming days – “so that responsibility does not stop at officials”.

“Someone must carry responsibility for the lack of action or for the imposing of persons who should have carried out their responsibilities,” he concluded.