Oh my, Evarist

So according to Education Minister and erstwhile journalism lecturer Evarist Bartolo, those taking the government to task through the international Daphne Project for the misdeeds perpetrated by members of this government are part of an orchestrated attempt by people who hate the Labour Party so much that they will stop at nothing and even damage the country in the process.

According to the minister, to hurt the whole country and the thousands of people who depend on the economic sector is very irresponsible indeed. Oh my, Evarist. What shall we start? First off, this newspaper is not materially involved in the project and, as such, we have no vested interest in promoting or defending it. We have, however, been materially involved in exposing much of the rot that has infected the country. That being said, we do have a vested interest in promoting and defending journalism, our stock in trade.

Secondly, it is doubtful in the extreme that those reputable international newspapers involved in the project have any sort of hatred for the Labour Party.

Thirdly, the minister should very well know, and we are certain that he does, that it is not the press reporting on the misdeeds of members of his government since it is the outbreak of the Panama Papers that are causing the real, and perhaps irreparable, harm to the country and to its economic sector.

As a journalism lecturer, the minister is erudite in the subject, and he should know full well that it is the sacrosanct duty of the press to uncover

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stories about a government that has ridden roughshod over the country’s rule of law since day one of taking office.

Perhaps the minister is of the opinion that the press should shut up and not report such matters of national importance. Perhaps the minister, when outside the university’s lecture halls, conveniently forgets about the Fourth Estate.

The minister is simply taking pot shots at the messengers who have exposed the nefarious actions of members of a government rather than turning his guns on the real culprits who have harmed and shamed this country with their plots, schemes, Panamanian companies and trusts in New Zealand.

Yes, minister, to hurt the whole country and the thousands of people who depend on the economic sector is very irresponsible indeed. And that is exactly what members of your own government have done.

That harm and shame have increased exponentially by the government’s utter unwillingness to come down in any tangible way, shape or form on those who have, through their actions and inactions, caused the country’s name to be dragged through the mud.

We have one simple question for the minister: if the shoe were on the other foot, and it had been members of a Nationalist administration who had done exactly what members of this administration – Messrs Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri in particular – would the Labour Party not have mobilised its masses and raised hell? We are certain that it would have done just that, and perhaps with a good deal more fervour than has been seen from today’s Opposition. www.independent.com.mt

Is the minister merely making good for past derelictions against the party, having had his wings clipped, or is this simply symptomatic of the siege mentality under which the government appears to be living.

If there were a drawbridge at Castille, it would be raised and secured very tightly indeed, and this pretty much sums up the government’s attitude. Now even a minister who has had the courage to challenge the government’s status quo to a certain extent appears to have fallen in line.

How many European parliamentary rule of law delegations does the country have to endure before any meaningful action is taken? And how about the comments published yesterday by none other than that assembly’s president, who likened our own Prime Minister to Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan? How many times can the Prime Minister weather protests like that in London on Friday, when crowds outside yet another passport-plying event shouted ‘shame on you’ like he was some kind of Third World dictator?

That Oh My Malta tagline that was so popular over the last two weeks, and which the government was so keen to pounce on and sponsor, can be so quickly turned on its head once we start to scratch the surface.

There is no amount of YouTube public relations material that could possibly offset what is being faced by the country, in a situation of the government’s, not the press’, own making. It will take a lot more than that to clean the stain from the country’s image. We just hope that stain is not indelible.