Chris Said recalls the Daphne inquiry the government refused to allow

In an adjournment speech made a day after the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, Nationalist Party MP Chris Said recalled how the same government presently claiming credit for any progress had shot down his own call for an independent inquiry – focusing on the allegations Daphne had made in her writing.

Said had filed his parliamentary motion on 31 October 2017 – two weeks after Daphne’s assassination – calling for an inquiry which would look into any public officials, officers, authorities and government entities mentioned in her writing, determine what corruption, abuse of power and other crimes may have taken place and make recommendations accordingly.

But government MPs had voted down the motion on 19 December of that year, just before Parliament began its Christmas recess.

“Many members of that government who are still in place – many of them still serving as ministers – voted against this motion,” Said observed.

Ultimately, he pointed out, it had to be civil society to set the ball in motion and make it possible for a public inquiry – one with a different remit – to be held. That inquiry concluded that the state had to assume responsibility for Daphne’s assassination, as it created the conditions possible for it to happen.

“To this date, no one has assumed political responsibility for what had happened 5 years ago,” Said emphasised.

The MP added that he had a duty to speak up in Parliament about the anniversary – not least since both the government and Parliament still failed to adequately honour the slain journalist.

In her own adjournment speech minutes later, fellow PN MP Claudette Buttigieg observed that there were many in Parliament who were uncomfortable whenever the topic was drawn up.

Daphne, she pointed out, often wrote harshly about the conduct of MPs, and her exposure of numerous scandals clearly created discomfort.

And consequently, she added, “I am sure many will agree that the Robert Abela government does not have the will to ensure true justice is achieved.”