Photo: Matthew MirabelliThe mastermind behind Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination remains unknown. So does his motive. But it’s screamingly obvious that they failed miserably, for they eliminated the woman but not what she stood for. No bomb can ever destroy that.
Caruana Galizia’s death exposed corruption at the highest level of government and State. Those who rejoiced at Daphne’s death shall be disappointed, for her death shall be Joseph Muscat’s Labour undoing.
When a consortium of international journalists comes together to continue what she started, trouble for Malta’s corrupt lot is on the horizon. There is no way back now. The situation is truly desperate, for them.
The Daphne Project has opened a can of worms. Justice shall prevail. It shall. The people will eventually want an end to this charade. They will.
Recently, I’ve been dedicating long hours to house visiting across the country. Bread and butter issues remain high on people’s agendas. Low pensions and low salaries are the most cited challenges people face – so is crime, migration, pollution, overdevelopment, rents and traffic. When you add corruption, and the grave allegations levelled, daily, at the very top of the Maltese government, it’s only a matter of time before things fall apart.
For while the Prime Minister acts invincible, thanks not least to two landslide victories at the polls, he’s not, and he shall soon realise that.
There is no way out. Muscat is in a fix, and his unconditional support to the disgraced trio – Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri and Chris Cardona – shall soon come back to haunt him. Rather than doing the least that is expected of him – showing them the door – he backs them at all cost.
The Daphne Project has opened a can of worms. Justice shall prevail. It shall. The people will eventually want an end to this charade. They will
Muscat is not naive – never was; he knows that he shall eventually have to pay a political price for his shameful inaction. Only recently, The Guardian stated that his chances of securing a top post within the European Union, after he quits local politics, have fizzled away.
Unfortunately, however Malta’s reputation suffers till we see Muscat’s back – and by then it might be too late. The international press is awash with daily revelations from the Daphne Project. Only recently, Daphne’s sons – Matthew and Paul – were interviewed on CNN’s Amanpour, seen by millions worldwide.
She exposed corruption at the highest level of the government and State.
The masterminds, who plotted successfully her murder and cut her life short, failed miserably for Daphne was effective in life, and death.
You don’t get rid of journalists like Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Since the Daphne Project was launched, the government’s propaganda machine has gone into overdrive trying, unsuccessfully, to divert people’s attention from the most pressing matters at hand: a government in freefall, rocked by grave allegations of corruption.
Instead of doing what is right, and fair – dismissing Schembri, Mizzi and Cardona from public office – the Prime Minister is their staunchest supporter, fuelling speculation that he has no option but to do so; and that if they go, he’ll go down with them.
A series of magisterial inquiries have been launched, probing corruption at the highest level of government. The Prime Minister seems to find ‘solace’ in these inquiries, telling the local and international press that he would rather “prefer to wait for their outcome before taking action”.
That, however, is a feeble excuse, and downright irresponsible.
For in the meantime, grave allegations continue to surface placing Cardona, Mizzi and Schembri at the heart of the matter, and what is at stake is not their reputation – for that is theirs, not our concern – but the country’s. Jobs are at stake, thousands of them, especially in the financial services industry.
Now we learn that according to Reporters Without Borders, press freedom in Malta is in a “problematic” state, whose annual index shows the island plunging 18 places, the sharpest drop among 180 countries.
Malta is now 65th on the World Press Freedom Index, published annually since 2002. Other countries labelled “problematic” included the Ukraine, Hungary, Greece, Poland, Brazil and Peru. Caruana Galizia’s brutal murder in October contributed to the deterioration of press freedom in Malta, the organisation noted, adding the murder was a cause for concern for European democracy. We were promised to be Europe’s envy.
In the meantime, the government thinks it can march on, oblivious to the disastrous press reports about Malta in the international press, for ‘the economy is doing well’.
Muscat knows, but doesn’t seem to care, that wall-to-wall negative press reports about Malta shall, sooner or later, rock the boat and that would have a negative impact on Malta’s economy. To make matters worse, no new economic sectors have been created in the past five years – which means that we depend solely on the current economic areas and niches; and in so doing, we have laid the proverbial eggs in one basket.
Adrian Delia, on behalf of the Nationalist Party and Malta’s ever-growing civil society organisations insist the government should put an end to this rot. But the Prime Minister refuses to budge; preferring to back his closest aides who are in the press for the wrong reasons, rather than pulling his weight, showing them the door and putting people first.
Unfortunately, having secured two electoral landslides, Muscat thinks he’s invincible.
Within his party, he’s the undisputed leader – for no one dares to question his leadership and decisions, unless they want to be shown the door spelling the end of their political career.
I could see that when recently I discussed the Daphne Project on Xarabank, with Labour Party representatives. They were bending over backwards to defend the indefensible.
But invincible he’s not, for the Daphne Project has opened a can of worms which shall, sooner or later, prove to be Muscat’s undoing.
Frank Psaila is a lawyer and anchors Iswed fuq l-Abjad on NET TV.