Why is the Leader of the Opposition allowing a matter concerning the application of a building permit transform itself into the beginning of a Mepagate for him and his close advisers?

It is becoming more than clear that Joseph Muscat had an application before the planning authority, which seems to have been decided upon before the period for public consultation had finished. So far so bad. However, what is causing real concern is the reaction or, should one say, over-reaction through which Dr Muscat's close advisers are trying to handle the public relations fallout from the episode.

The media have received incandescent letters with accompanying documentation from Dr Muscat's advisers purporting to certify that the permit was received by Dr Muscat after the closing date for the public to make their submissions to the planning authority.

Well, when was he expected to have received the final permit by mail? Is Dr Muscat's adviser seriously contending that his client should have received the final permit before the authority had actually decided upon the issue? Is it not bad enough that Dr Muscat's permit was decided upon before the consultation period was over?

Why has Dr Muscat allowed his advisers to put forward such a manifest "red herring" when it is common knowledge that the important date was the date of the decision and not the date of when he received the decision by post.

The issue being raised here is not so much one of honesty. Rather, it is an issue of questioning the Leader of the Opposition's judgment. He may have panicked in the light of Victor Scerri's decision to resign from the post of president of the Nationalist Party pending determination of any wrongdoing on his part in the Mepa imbroglio he got himself into. Did he panic thinking that the public would want him to resign also?

Did Dr Muscat or his advisers genuinely think that Dr Muscat's chances of becoming Prime Minister in four years' time would depend on the issue being investigated by the press and a number of columnists? If he did think so then it is time for us ordinary citizens to start getting genuinely worried.

What does this lack of judgment tell us about Dr Muscat's vision of transparency or even accountability if he were to be in power?

Why is it so difficult for leading public figures to take us voters into their confidence, come out clean and trust in our judgment to give incidents their appropriate importance or significance?

Dr Scerri resigned since there is an investigation going on within Mepa on the project of his property which is an ODZ. He said he was in no way admitting to any wrongdoing and was going to do all that was necessary to show it legally and politically. More power to his elbow.

A few years ago, in fact, during the time of the application submitted by Dr Muscat, a leading Labour minister felt he had to resign because the then Prime Minister, Alfred Sant had publicly, in Parliament, in fact, and openly criticised the granting of a presidential pardon and the minister concerned assumed the political responsibility for the incident even though no legal wrongdoing had even been alleged.

We all remember very clearly the wide appreciation shown by all of the political spectrum of Charles Mangion's correct behaviour. In fact, not only was his gesture appreciated, it did not even harm his political career one iota because he is still one of Labour's foremost politicians to the extent of standing as acting leader pending the election of Dr Muscat to Parliament.

Please, Dr Muscat, do tell us it was a genuine misjudgment on your part trying to pull a fast one on us all when it was evident it would not succeed and then we could go on to discuss the really serious issues bedevilling this beloved country of ours.

Not doing so would, to the mind of most of us, be much, much more serious than having an application not observing in full the formalities it should have done.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.