It’s not the time for holidays, Prime Minister

Malta is experiencing a huge increase in the number of Coronavirus cases, which have now reached record levels, and yet its head of government chose to go on holiday.

While front-liners sweat in the not-socomfortable conditions they work in to carry out their difficult duties related to the pandemic, the Prime Minister preferred to go away to relax.

While medical staff are in quarantine and others are constrained to stay away from their families for weeks so as not to endanger their loved ones, Robert Abela was pictured or filmed in Marina di Ragusa, away from it all.

In countries where similar behaviour is considered to be politically blasphemous, politicians stepped down or were forced to do so for much less. But in Malta, the PM thinks it is ok for him to cross the channel to Sicily for a vacation during the week in which the country he is supposed to lead experiences its worst rise yet in the number of virus cases.

Let us not forget that the surge in cases happened because he, the PM, in his wisdom and against the advice of medical professionals, chose to remove restrictions that had been imposed to contain the spread of the virus too early. And yet, in spite of the crisis that the country is facing – and the effects it is having on both the health and economic sector – Abela preferred to go eat ice-cream in Sicily.

It is no wonder that his deputy, Chris Fearne, was flustered on Monday when he was repeatedly asked by journalists on the Prime Minister’s whereabouts. Journalists did the right thing in pressing Fearne for an answer, but one cannot really blame the Health Minister for not wanting to reply to questions that “should be answered by others.” In a way, Fearne was giving his interpretation of Abela’s absence – “he should be here to answer these questions himself,” was what Fearne was indirectly saying.

To be entirely fair, Abela interrupted his holiday, to come back on Sunday to speak on his party radio station and later say that he had met Fearne and health chief Charmaine Gauci to draw up a list of new measures. He then made off again, to continue holidaying, and returned only after so much criticism about his absence.

But the fact that Abela decided to leave the country as it is challenged by an unprecedented calamity is unbecoming of a Prime Minister. His supporters defend him saying that “it was only for a few days”, “everyone deserves a holiday” and “he was continuously in touch via teleworking.” That’s not the point. It is wrong for the Prime Minister to leave the country, even for 10 minutes, at a time like this.

Many gave up on their summer holiday this year. Many have lost money saved through hard work and sacrifices because the holiday was pre-paid and the money was not returned. Many were looking forward to a possible holiday in the coming months, but now even this has been jeopardised, considering how many countries are now taking serious measures against travelling from Malta.

Worse than this, hundreds of the so-called front-liners are spending long hours, days and weeks fighting the virus, and all thought we had overcome the crisis until the Prime Minister’s hasty decisions to go back to normal.

At a time when real leaders should show the way and, like a captain of a sinking ship should be the last to abandon the vessel, what the Prime Minister did was metaphorically show the country his middle finger.