The performance of ministers Leo Brincat and Evarist Bartolo at the Marsascala open air press conference was beyond pathetic.

Brincat, my former colleague, now the minister responsible for the environment, had just attended and celebrated the signing of the agreement with the Jordanians acquiescing to the ravishing of this virgin land outside development zone.

He chastised the Opposition for not suggesting alternative sites. The minister should know it is his job to do so. Please do not ask us to believe that in the whole of the south there is no alternative site.

He also said that he has more than one hat. Pity he is wearing the wrong one.

On his part, Bartolo had just said the day before that his heart ached if just one field was given away for development. Imagine what he must be feeling now that 90,000 square metres of virgin ODZ land are at the disposal of the developers.

The two ministers are decent persons and I suspect that their stance was not a free choice of their own. Very sad, but, at least, there was one small consolation for them at Marsascala. They had the opportunity to breathe in some fresh air before the bulldozers and jackhammers move in to fence us out of this territory.

And what has the top man at Mepa to say in this controversy? He is as quiet as a church mouse. I remind him that the ‘e’ stands for environment.

This government has rolled over the Opposition on previous occasions. Is it now rolling over its own ministers, depriving them from making free value choices? If so, our democracy is indeed on a slippery slope.

Yet, as we say, it is an ill wind that blows nobody any good. Of course, for the few involved it is a welcome boon.