Well, you really never know now, do you? Minister Austin Gatt turned out to be more prudent than Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi after all, preferring to wait to see if there was any technical explanation that could throw light on the pitch dark resulting from the massive power failure at Enemalta some days ago.

The PM had more than hummed and hawed about the failure. He had positively indicated that there were what he saw as too many coincidences at play.

If he made no outright assertion or accusation, as none could indeed be made, the implication was clear enough - Dr Gonzi suspected sabotage.

A statement released by Enemalta on Friday put paid to any of that. The corporation said it had a report in hand which traced the causes of the extended power failure to technical origins which, given the way the power supply is structured, spread with disastrous effect.

That showed how wise Minister Gatt was when, in the wake of the Prime Minister's murmuring with intent, he declared he preferred to wait for a technical report.

Enemalta's report is not the end of the affair. When it is discussed in the House of Representatives the opposition will continue to make a meal out of it. The power failure inflicted an economic cost. Practically one day's output was lost, effectively causing a loss of some one half of one percent of Malta's gross domestic product (GDP).

The economic situation had been weak enough without that costly interruption, with output under further stress this year as visible (manufacturing) and invisible (tourism) exports fall relentlessly.

The opposition will pick on that, but more to point it will key up its claim that Enemalta has not increased its supply capability, though it had warned three years ago that higher capacity would be required by 2009.

The Enemalta statement on Friday was carefully worded to cover that point. It emphasised that capacity was adequate relevant to current needs, and had reserves to cover the increase expected should the summer really start to warm up. The corporation's emphasis on what it seems to see as unavoidable technical factors at play - and not any capacity gap - at one and the same time left the Prime Minister and the opposition with ground cut from under their feet.

That will not make the parliamentary discussion any less fierce. The opposition will stick to its guns on capacity grounds, while Minister Gatt, while spelling out in language more understandable to the layman than that used in Enemalta's media release, will accuse the opposition with irresponsibility. It is unlikely that he will address any similar remarks towards his own leader, but every word he says will unavoidably have to contain an implicit charge at him.

However the political play unfolds, it seems a fact that Dr Gonzi was hasty to voice his suspicions.

That came about after various suggestions from the Nationalist side that the administration was being undermined by Labourites in sensitive places, one of the worst signs of living in denial after the PN was thrashed by Labour in the European Parliamentary elections.

The technical reasons for the power failure, at least, serve to show that wild suspicions and talk should be chewed over before being spouted, no matter how much one feels his back is against the wall.

Politicians owe it to them-selves and to us all to be more cautious.