Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1206972
5 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 2 FEBRUARY 2020 OPINION I have not met one minister who has not expressed dis- gust at the way Joseph Mus- cat seems to have suddenly changed. Some even compared him to Alfred Sant in the after- math of his short stint as PM – that is, it seems to them that he thinks everyone owes him some extraordinary respect. Which feeling is made worse by the fact of his reluctance dur- ing that fateful Cabinet meet- ing in November not to leave, despite everything that was stacked against him. Indeed, it has to be said that the decision for him to leave was forced up- on him, because the Cabinet made it very clear that it was over for him. What is abundantly clear to- day is that the magisterial in- quiries into the Vitals Global Healthcare PPP, and other matters dealing with Muscat's inner circle, will not go away. More is yet to surface – we could be just looking at the tip of the iceberg. But to more mundane things: this week, I sat in court to lis- ten with delight to Ray Mintoff, a director of the Valyou super- markets, saying that he had re- ceived €5,000 from disgraced former Times journalist Ivan Camilleri. Not because he shop- lifted – for he claimed Camill- eri had not stolen anything – but simply because Camilleri forgot to pay for some bottles of water in his trolley (which according to Camilleri he had paid for after all). Funny that... Now, thank God everyone just laughed away when they heard this story. Quite simi- lar to when we were told that Keith Schembri had lost his mobile phone and followed by the news that the police had ac- cepted his version of the facts. What everyone believes is that the €5,000 that was paid by Ivan Camilleri was a very hefty compensation for his al- leged shoplifting. And what I am told by Valyou employees is that Ray Mintoff is just the guy to ask for that compensa- tion... one surmises that it's so he does not report the hapless customer to the police. Now if is it true that this is not the first time that Mintoff has done this, then this would be a very serious matter. It would be the perfect case of extortion, a criminal act. But this particular episode re- veals two interesting aspects to the story. The first one is that anyone who stupidly or unwit- tingly is caught shoplifting or forgots a bottle of water in a trolley at Valyou could be faced with a surprise meeting with Ray Mintoff, who will then leave you €5,000 lighter than before. In return for what? For not being reported to the police and have your name splashed in the media? Maybe. Surely enough, had we a decent po- lice force in this country, this incident would be followed by an investigation. But the po- lice do not take reports seri- ously. They do not even follow what the courts ask them to do. When some years back in the case against Sandro Chetcuti, the courts called on the po- lice to investigate perjury from three top GRTU officials, the police did what they usually do: f*** all. The second aspect is the fate of Ivan Camilleri, a journal- ist whose loss was a sad one for The Times, but they were forced to eat humble pie on this story and retract their former statement defending Camilleri. Pity I didn't get the apology from managing direc- tor Michel Rizzo for calling my story a malicious attempt to discredit Camilleri. But what I am getting at is that Ivan Camilleri's stories should be given a good scrutiny by his former employers, to see how many of his articles were linked to cosy relationships with vested business interests. And by interests, I am suggest- ing that this journalist did not simply follow a story because he had the public interest and good at heart, but because there other motives at heart. When I employed one journal- ist who was allegedly getting favours and rewards in kind for the stories he wrote, I showed him the door. Time to see the bigger picture The latest MaltaToday survey clearly shows the stratospher- ic rise of Robert Abela and the catastrophic results for Adrian Delia. In the last two years and a half, we have had two major events which shook this country. The assassination of Daphne Caru- ana Galizia and the undeniable link between the highest of- ficers in the office of the Prime Minister and this assassination. In a normal country, the Op- position would blossom and hit the roof. The opposite has happened, and the problem is clearly Delia. Not because he is intrinsically unsuitable for the job, but because time and time again he has been repudiated by the Nationalists themselves. Of course, the solution is not the unappealing and blinkered activists who have exiled them- selves from the Stamperija to take refuge in civil society. This country deserves an op- position, and it is no longer about the PN but about the country. Rally around a vision- ary and a capable orator – I always seem to have someone like Claudio Grech in mind – or someone with the sense to build an opposition. Democracy cannot exist with one party. This time the writ- ing is no longer on the wall, it is engraved in franka and it is not going away. In a normal country, the Opposition would blossom and hit the roof. The opposite has happened, and the problem is clearly Delia Saviour Balzan The bigger picture @saviourbalzan