The government resorted to a sensitive inquiry into the death of two migrants to deflect attention from an embarrassing political scandal, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said yesterday.
Addressing a seminar on job creation in Gozo, Dr Busuttil said that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had only tabled the long-awaited report on the death of two detained migrants in a bid to distract attention from the shooting incident involving former home affairs minister Manuel Mallia’s driver.
This, however, had failed, Dr Busuttil said, questioning whether such an important inquiry should be used for political point scoring.
“The first question to the public would ask was why was the report not published sooner and why did the government wait so long?
Public will ask why was report not published sooner?
“Pulling something out of his drawer to try and attack us or to smear us with something that happened under the previous administration instead of discussing the subject was Dr Muscat’s reaction,” Dr Busuttil said.
Judge Geoffrey Valenzia had been asked to look into the events leading to the death of Malian detainee Mamadou Kamara in 2012. It also delved into the mysterious death of Nigerian Ifeanye Nwokoye the previous year.
Dr Muscat tabled the report last week after a heated parliamentary debate on Dr Mallia’s alleged involvement in an attempted cover-up of his chauffer’s shooting incident.
The Valenzia report said former home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici had interfered when the head of Detention Services wanted to reprimand the officers involved.
The publication of the report was met with concerns from a group of eight human rights NGOs, which said the report had been gathering dust on a government shelf since December 2012.
Dr Busuttil said the government’s “mask” had dropped because the public could now see what it was really made of.
Following the tabling of the report, Dr Muscat had said the government would be holding the Opposition to task every month, insisting the bar of political accountability had been raised with the sacking of Dr Mallia.
Dr Busuttil said the Opposition was not afraid of the Prime Minister’s “threats”, adding these were merely a sign that the PN was getting under the government’s skin by being an effective Opposition.
“These threats send out a clear message that Dr Muscat turns to aggression when the truth comes out,” Dr Busuttil said.
He said the ultimate dismissal of Dr Mallia had come about in no small part through the pressure piled on the government by the Opposition.
This, he said, had proved the PN was an effective part of Parliament despite the government enjoying a nine-seat majority.
‘Give Gozo a council’
The sister isle should have a regional council that would scrutinise the Gozo Ministry, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said yesterday.
Addressing a seminar entitled ‘Work in Gozo, when, how?’, Dr Busuttil said the council should be made up of elected officials either from Parliament or the local council pool and would be representative of the Gozitan people.
The council had been proposed by the Nationalist Party in the last general election and Dr Busuttil believes its setting up would give Gozitans more of a voice while also holding the government to task.
He was expressing his thoughts on a number of policies that would benefit Gozo and on the importance of the PN drawing up a comprehensive strategy for Gozo.
On a permanent link between the two islands, Dr Busuttil said the previous administration had already commissioned studies on a submarine tunnel and he felt more studies were required.
He questioned the government’s lack of transparency on the way it transmitted its vision of a permanent link to the public.
Last month, The Sunday Times of Malta revealed details of a government-commissioned report on a suspension bridge to Gozo.
Dr Busuttil said people should have a dialogue with the government and not find out about such things through the media.