It's a new year. We have barely returned to our routines yet, but it's already been solidly back to business on the governance front.
In fact, we are still writing 2024 by mistake, to quickly fix it to 2025, yet the Attorney General has already refused a request to publish the inquiry related to the 17 Black scandal. By so doing, she is effectively choosing to continue covering up for Keith Schembri, Konrad Mizzi, and who knows who else.
The inquiry, hence, remains till the time of writing, securely locked away from public scrutiny.
This is certainly not the first time our institutions have acted in a rather peculiar way. Unfortunately, under successive Labour administrations, the most sensitive and important organs of the state have been hijacked lock stock and barrel, to do the bidding of the politicians in charge, providing them with a thick and well-funded line of defence from justice.
The very institutions that are there to defend our citizens from corruption and malpractice, have been genetically re-engineered to do the exact same opposite.
At the risk of labouring on a metaphor too far, this reminds me of certain malignant cancers that hijack structures or systems in the body, often invading surrounding tissue and organs, co-opting blood vessels to fuel their growth. These would directly repurpose structures to harm the body further, exploiting and destroying bone structures, sometimes weaponising them against the host body in a destructive frenzy.
It is a very sad situation, and yet we are seeing it happen with our institutions such as the Attorney General and the Police Force. It is evident that each of their actions is well timed and calculated to protect determinate players, and rarely in the public interest.
No wonder whenever we ask any sort of question or try to hold anyone to account, we are faced with a sardonic, semi-sarcastic grin of 'let the institutions work!'
Let us remember that the institutions have been on a hiatus since 2013 now. If it weren't for the calls of Simon Busuttil, David Casa, and Repubblika, this inquiry wouldn't have even taken place in the first place, because for our diligent institutions the Electrogas case and the 17Black revelations did not amount to enough reason to investigate!
It is taking its sweet time, but we are getting there.
We must remain vigilant and not allow ourselves to think that this is over, however. Though we have a different set of faces in Castille, the questions still remain. In fact, some of them become even more pertinent!
Like for example, if Joseph Muscat, Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi have all been exiled from politics and public life, then who are the Attorney General and the Police protecting? One would assume that their resignations would have given way to a proper clean sweep to give fresh confidence in our Government.
Yet as we all know, this did not happen. Far from it! We are still faced with secrecy and complicit behaviour that does not augur well for a modern, democratic society.
We are getting there, but we must remain vigilant.
Alexander Mangion is Deputy Mayor of Attard