An unexpected collateral benefit of the parliamentary debate on the inquiry into the Mallia/Sheehan incident was the re-emergence into the limelight of the deaths of two African immigrants on the run from the Safi detention centre – Ifeanye Nwokoye in 2011 and Mamadou Kamara in 2012.

Their deaths followed alleged acts of negligence or physical abuse by members of the armed forces responsible for their detention.

It is to be hoped that, having served their tactical purpose in the debate, these two cases will not be swept back into the shadows but will be pursued to their legal conclusion.

An elected legislature that enables politicians to score debating points and trade accusations in public does not, by itself, guarantee democracy.

A confident democracy also demands a legal system in which justice is done transparently and effectively, and in which no one is too small to deserve justice, even if only posthumously.

Our country is no exception to the sad rule that uniformed forces committed to protecting a democratic society act as a magnet for self-serving bullies who seek to operate with impunity, with the connivance of their peers and, sometimes, with the protection of their political masters.

In their Herculean task of building public confidence, the new leadership of the police and the army need to ensure that these forces are educated in their democratic mission and purged of the undisciplined, violent and racist dregs that cast shame by association on the honest majority of their members.