When institutions (don’t) work

This media house has always insisted that the country’s institutions should be allowed to work, and that they all should be contributing to making this country better by keeping the entities and individuals under the responsibility in check.

We have always praised those institutions that carried out their job diligently, without fear or favour. We have always lamented when their work, reports or recommendations were not followed up by others. Many times, their findings did not lead the government to act as it should have. At other times, their reports were discarded, ignored or shelved.

This is not how it should be. Institutions were set up – and continue to function – with a sense of purpose and it is sad when their job is not recognised.

We have also always said that the institutions should be efficient and that there should be no delay in their work. When we thought that they were taking long, we said so. When we thought that they were not doing anything, we said so too.

Institutions should work properly, efficiently and with determination in all instances. But they don’t.

This is why we express surprise, and indignation too, that recently the institutions showed how fast they can act.

It took a few hours for a court to order the police to investigate Mark Camilleri for publishing WhatsApp chats between Yorgen Fenech, who is accused of being a mastermind in the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, and Rosianne Cutajar, who was a Labour MP at the time but has since resigned from the PL parliamentary group.

The Attorney General and the police were also very quick in taking action. Their speed was impressive, and it was good to note that, when they want to, they can act really quickly.

The problem is that this does not happen always. Actually, it happens very rarely, and it took Camilleri’s case to realise that they can do their job with the speed that is required in these circumstances. This speed was not shown in other cases and the country is still waiting for them to take action on far more serious cases that, so far, have not led to any prosecution.

And so the question is: why don’t the institutions work so efficiently in other situations that warrant their attention? Why don’t they work so fast on other matters? Why did they show their “strength” with Camilleri, and not with others?

The court, police and Attorney General were quick to act when a (then) Labour MP’s reputation was on the line. Why don’t they do the same in all other circumstances?

The institutions are there to protect everyone, not just the few. Their duties are towards the country and they should really be doing their job without looking at faces.