Slowly, slowly the country is being torn asunder

On Friday night, Castile Square was awash with the strains of The Godfather theme song as one of the many pressure groups formed in the wake of the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia belted out their version of the Prime Minister’s playlist.

That same evening, further down the road in front of the Law Courts, people gathered in what has become a monthly vigil to mark the fifth month since the atrocity that has shocked and continues to shock the country, Europe and the world. And they did so in greater numbers than before.

They gathered before the Great Siege memorial, where a makeshift memorial to the assassinated journalist has been set up. Some weeks ago, persons unknown cleared that memorial with meticulous attention to detail. The very next day that memorial was set up again, bigger and better than the previous one.

The chairman of Valletta 18 wants banners dedicated to the journalist torn down but when that happens, they too, like the memorial, will be replaced.

It is high time the government realises that it is dealing with a very, very determined section of society that will not let the wrongs that have been inflicted upon the country on so many levels – the wrongs that the assassinated journalist exposed at the very real risk of life and limb so fearlessly – go unpunished, irrespective of what the electoral results say.

The government must realise that these are people will not give up by any stretch of the imagination. When a journalist is murdered because she had the moral compass and guts to expose the wrongdoings taking place in this country, people will rise up and they will not back down. This is a fact that Robert Fico over in Slovakia quickly copped on to, and resigned, but it is a fact that those in Castille appear to be deaf to this detail.

It is a storm that will not blow over and no matter how much they batten down the hatches, that storm will eventually sweep them away into the annals of history and leave this country to prosper without the sleaze that has transpired over the last five years and without the selling of the national soul through citizenships and without the god-awful corruption that has seen elections and people being bought left right and centre in such an unprecedented fashion.

It is about time the government realises that there are people in this country who will not be bought, who will not be intimidated and who will not cower.

This is but a small part of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s enduring legacy, and it may very well be the most important part. It is timeless because it is on the right side of history and the right side of morality.

The demands for justice not only for the assassination but also for accountability for the degenerative situation that led to that murder continue to grow, against the predictions of those in the seat of power, who are doubtlessly hoping beyond hope that this storm will blow over and just go away.

And perhaps that is exactly why the government continues to capture each and every state institution like so many squares on a Monopoly board. And that is why, in the meantime, the government is desperate to hold on to its fleeting power because all such power is fleeting in nature. Despite the critical mass of criticism it is facing at home and abroad, it has continued to capture every institution that are meant to protect citizens’ rights and uphold the laws of the land without the intervention of government institu- tions.

It has already captured the police force, the Malta Financial Services Authority and the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit – those institutions that should have, but never did, investigate the revelations placed on their tables that exposed the misdeeds of those closest to the Prime Minister.

Now it seems that it has captured Parliament itself, where former Opposition leader and current Opposition spokesperson for good governance Simon Busuttil wants to ask the very simple yet extremely pertinent question of whether the Prime Minister’s chief of staff holds an account at Pilatus Bank or in Dubai.

He was, however, prevented from asking that Parliamentary Question by the Speaker of the House for what we can only term as inexplicable reasons. For more on that matter one can refer to the editorial in yesterday’s daily edition of this newspaper.

Busuttil has appealed that ruling and much will be read into the Speaker’s decision on that appeal, which Busuttil dedicated, quite rightly, to Daphne Caruana Galizia.

There are two very different strains in this country that are slowly, slowly tearing the country asunder: as one continues to grow and its calls for freedom from what is becoming a captured state despite everything that is thrown at them, the other is working, often below the radar, to complete its totality of state capture.

The situation is clearly untenable and at some point, who knows how far down the road that might be, something will have to give. But by that time, it may be too late for the country to regain any semblance of normality. We hope this will not be the case.