Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1262267
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 JUNE 2020 OPINION Clifton Grima is parliamentary secretary for youths, sports and voluntary organisations coming... not in 24 hours, nor even 24 years. Nationalist MP David Thake (who was the first to call for an investigation) has so far refused to disclose the identity of his in- formant to the police… and with- out that all-important piece of the jigsaw puzzle, investigators can only be expected to hit a brick wall. It also bears mentioning that Delia's challenge was not direct- ed at Melvin Theuma himself; but rather, at Karl Stagno Navar- ra (who repeated the allegation, with a little embroidery, on the Labour-owned One TV). So unless Stagno Navarra can produce anything resembling 'evidence' of this bribery claim… within the deadline, or beyond it… it looks destined to fizzle out into yet another dead-end lead. This brings me to the truly as- tonishing aspect in all this: it doesn't seem to have occurred to Adrian Delia that it is not at all in the interest of the Labour Par- ty's media to prove the allegation against him. Quite the contrary, in fact: One TV – just like its Nationalist counterpart, Net – views its sole raison d'etre as defending the po- litical party which owns it. And for reasons already outlined, the Labour Party has motives of its own for wishing to derail a mur- der trial that is likely to expose more (and more, and more) of its own past misdeeds. It is therefore more than likely that Karl Stagno Navarra's inten- tion was precisely to bait Delia into publicly rebutting that same allegation… by forcing the PN leader to claim (as he already did, in different words) that Theuma was trying to 'frame' him… which, by an extraordinary coincidence, is exactly the same line adopted by Chris Cardona in his turn. And given that both these al- legations originate, not from Melvin Theuma himself, but from Yorgen Fenech – who, as already indicated, has an interest in mud- dying the waters of the murder investigation – well, why on earth should we believe one claim, but not the other? To put that another way: if Theuma proves to be an unrelia- ble witness – either because he's lying, or repeating the lies of oth- ers – when it comes to his claims about Adrian Delia… why should the rest of his testimony be re- garded any differently? Not just about Cardona's involvement, but also about Yorgen Fenech himself? And whose interest does it serve, to cast doubt on the only testi- mony that might actually bring closure to the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case… if not the people who actually murdered her, or the people who have an in- terest in covering the murder up? What Adrian Delia has just done, therefore – or rather, what he was tricked into doing – is ef- fectively make the possibility of Fenech's eventual acquittal that much more realistic. And I'm still not sure what as- tounds me more: the fact that he clearly didn't weigh the long-term implications of his own actions… or that he would walk so blindly into such an obvious trap. Clifton Grima SPORTS is a way of life for a great number of Maltese families. The absence of sports during the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of training, competitive events or other activi- ties has been felt considerably. We monitored the situation closely and evaluated the circumstances with all our rel- evant stakeholders, including the health au- thorities. We listened to frustrations and concerns, however it was our obligation to ensure that before resuming sports activities, we will be safeguarding the health of our athletes with- out taking any risks that may be detrimental in any way. Our priority was, and always will be, the well-being and health of our athletes. Relax- ing any restrictions prematurely would have been short-sighted from our part, while our duty was also to work in line with the guidelines issued by the health au- thorities. Although sports fa- cilities have now been opened, there are still a number of new meas- ures in place which are being implemented. Removing restrictions means that our facilities still need to be adapted to life post COVID-19. To this effect, we car- ried out substantial maintenance in a num- ber of sports venues in the past weeks in order for them to be ready for our athletes and offi- cials. It is only thanks to the cooperation and pro- fessional approach of our athletes, sports as- sociations, and officials, that we are now able to adapt to the new reality. Our athletes have returned to training dai- ly, or twice daily - as required, our coaches can return to managing their teams and our officials can continue planning for their re- spective clubs. I would ask and be grateful for your coop- eration over the next few months. Let us not rush excessively into things and move in ac- cordance with the stipulated measures and guidelines. We can use this time to adapt, take the opportunity to reflect on areas for improvement, and continue building on our strengths. One must not ignore the effect COVID-19 has had on our physical and mental health. We deserve and need to be given the time to adapt to our new lifestyle. We will continue monitoring closely the in- ternational sports scene, ensuring we are up to speed with any updates in this regard. We will remain in close contact with the sports community, via effective and regular com- munication, in an effort to ensure that sports organisations and athletes are kept fully in- formed. With the welcome news that sports compe- titions scheduled to return, it is clear that our lives are moving closer to what they were be- fore COVID-19. We undeniably have a new reality ahead of us and some things will be different to what they were before. It is there- fore key that we adjust accordingly and keep moving forward. Malta has indeed won its battle against the COVID-19 pandemic and although there are still a small number of new cases being regis- tered daily, the rate of the virus spread is ex- tremely low. The situation is now under control although in spite of this, I still encourage the public to remain cautious by social distancing when out, wearing masks and using hand sanitisers regularly. This is particularly relevant to sports ven- ues where I encour- age all those using the facilities to continue applying the afore- mentioned recommen- dations. My plea to all those involved, including the numerous and various disciplines in Malta, is to respect the set rules and guidelines when returning back to your daily training sched- ules. I understand it may be frustrating, as some guidelines may be difficult to adhere to at first, yet we must not forget that we live in a new reality and it is in everyone's interest that we observe them as necessary. This in- cludes respect for our sports institutions and facilities which are the platform for the suc- cesses of our own athletes. From my end I am personally committed to safeguarding our athletes, ensuring a safe sports environment, and I stand ready to as- sist as necessary in adapting to our new re- ality. Our roadmap to sports normality Let us not rush excessively into things and move in accordance with the stipulated measures and guidelines. We can use this time to adapt, take the opportunity to reflect on areas for improvement, and continue building on our strengths "Whose interest does it serve, to cast doubt on the only testimony that might actually bring closure to the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case… if not the people who actually murdered her, or the people who have an interest in covering the murder up?"