The vigil for construction site victim Jean Paul Sofia went ahead as planned this evening as thousands gathered in Valletta to call for justice at the request of Sofia’s mother, in the wake of last week’s denial by Parliament of a public inquiry into her son’s death.
Sofia was killed at what was to be a timber factory that was being built illegally on government property by Serbian contractors and Maltese developers with a criminal past and connections to the Lands Authority when it suddenly collapsed on 3 December.
Calls for a public inquiry into the circumstances leading to his death have been rife but have been consistently denied by the Prime Minister.
PM buckles to public pressure, announces Jean Paul Sofia public inquiry
But in a dramatic turn of events, Prime Minister Robert Abela buckled to mounting public pressure and announced a public inquiry into last December’s Kordin construction site death of 20-year-old Jean Paul Sofia.
The move came after he had his MPs vote against an opposition motion for the public inquiry to be instituted, just before a public protest that was planned for Valletta tonight and as a public petition hit the 30,000 mark.
The terms of reference and who will be leading the public inquiry are still to be announced.
Since then, several NGOs, public figures, and the opposition have joined the parents’ call for a public inquiry, which would delve into the malaise of the construction sector.
Even disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat, the General Workers Union and President Emeritus Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca endorsed the call just today.
A public petition calling for the public inquiry also today surpassed the 30,000 mark. At 10% of the electorate, around 35,000, a referendum on the issue at hand can be requested.
Abela has consistently shot down the requests for a public inquiry into the December 2022 death, stating that “a public inquiry hinders and does not help achieve justice” and insisting that the ongoing magisterial inquiry would suffice.
Inquiring Magistrate Marse-Ann Farrugia today, however, requested another monthly extension, the sixth, from the Attorney General’s Office.
Abela wrote to Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti last April and once again last week asking him to ensure the magisterial inquiry is wrapped as soon as possible in what is widely being seen as another attempt to influence the judiciary.
Din qed tahseb li Abela henn ghaliha issa? Ma kellux triq ohra hlif li isejjah inkjesta pubblika! Jew hekk jew rizenja!
It is not enough for Robert Abela to announce a public inquiry and then ignore completely any recommendations which it may contain. He has to promise to fulfil the recommendations in the best possible way. And while we are at this subject, Robert Abela should stop ignoring the public inquiry about the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and start fulfilling its recommendations as soon as possible.
Bobby proved himself to be a LIAR,CORRUPT PUPPET ANDnot fit to be a pm. Shame on you, you have wasted time and the honest tax payers money at the MAQJEL.
Robert Abela’s political career is finished. The PM has either lost it all, acting stupidly, with one gaffe after another, or else, he continuous to bank on a series of advices coming from his incompetent team, who are now showing lack of logic sense and political acumen.
There is something in common between St Paul and our prime minister Robert Abela. The bible tells us that St Paul was travelling to Damascus probably riding on horseback when he had a vision about the Christians. In today’s language we say St Paul made a U -turn.
Our Robert Abela wasn’t riding a horse. He was driving a luxurious yacht when he had a vision or U turn about Jean Paul Sofia.
Kumbinazzjoni l-Magistrat talbet estensjoni fl-istess gurnata tal-Vgili biex Abela jkollu skuza biex jghamel il-kutrumajsa u minghalih in-nies ma jmorrux.
Ezatt! X kumbinazzjoni!
the PM’s failure last night to simply slink out of Castille’s siode door makes me think of Ceaucescu’s last balcony appearance in 1989!
Hafna iffissati fuq l partit jghidulek din mhiex politika! U zgur li hi!! Art pubblika moghtija lil privat biex jaghmlu l business ghalihom u politici iffiltrati jinhbew warajhom! U qisu xejn mhu xejn!! Silvio Schembri hadd ma gaghlu jirrizenja??
I think his decision to walk out of the front door was a deliberate provocation along the lines of partying at Girgenti just after the vote in Parliament last week, and then the departure on the yacht.
The message that he wants to convey is that he is the emperor and does as he pleases. He has used 39 useful idiots to block the resolution on public inquiry, and then unilaterally ignored parliament and called for a public inquiry. The tyrant wanted to demonstrate that the institions like Parliament and the AG are just pawns, he is the emperor, and the people protesting are just peasants.
I think his exit from the front door was a stunt in this regard and to show his power status and ‘strength’ and that he gives a hoot about the laws and the ‘paper’ institutions.
After all, Malta is a democracy ‘dejure’ and not ‘de facto’.
Nahseb li il membri parlamentari tan naha tal gvern hassewhom jaghqaw ACCAJT U REDİKOLİ li issa galghom jaghmlu U TURN iehor. Veru li l parlamentari KOLLA ghandhom wicchom u il warrani xorta imma kieku lanqas nohrog mid dar ghal gimgha