Editorial: Enter the culture of bullying
Joseph Muscat, whose actions and inactions as prime minister have by now been laid bare, persists in portraying himself as defender of the institutions. Of course, he protects them provided they do his bidding. He decided that former Infrastructure Malta CEO Fredrick Azzopardi should not have been arraigned and charged with violating environment protection laws. Freedom of expression, that same right the culture of impunity prevalent on his watch wanted to stifle, allows him to speak his mind and criticise. But he does not have the right to tell public officers what they should do or not do. Perhaps he needs reminding what the public inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder concluded about the exercise of his function as head of government and guarantor of good governance. Commenting on the way he had protected his right-hand man, Keith Schembri, the inquiry concluded that Muscat’s attitude was unacceptable, condemnable and amounted to a serious shortcoming and abuse. So how can he speak of wanting to defend the institutions or expecting to tell public functionaries how to operate? If he truly wants to defend institutions he must also uphold the laws that govern them.