Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1503999
8 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 19 JULY 2023 NEWS NEWS ANALYSIS POLITICS is the art of com- promise. Making U-turns look palatable is what distinguishes a statesman from a charlatan. But even better for a politi- cian is the ability to foresee events and nip problems in the bud before they start to snow- ball out of control. Yet that was exactly the situation facing Prime Minister Robert Abela after Labour MPs shot down a parliamentary motion pre- sented by the Opposition for a public inquiry into the death of Jean Paul Sofia. With Sofia's relatives con- fronting Labour MPs inside parliament, by the weekend it had become clear that events had slipped out of Abela's control. Abela failed to real- ise that confronting a grieving mother is the stuff of political nightmares. The confronta- tion between a mother and the powers that be changed the optics of the situation, condi- tioning government action to the extent that even Abela's yacht escapades elicited com- parisons with Isabelle Bonni- ci's pain. Had Abela persisted in his stubbornness, every single ac- tion of his would have been seen against this backdrop. In- stead of losing steam, the cam- paign for a public inquiry was snowballing into something bigger. The snowball effects By Monday, in the face of public backlash and with La- bour MPs and Cabinet mem- bers reporting the frustration of constituents, Abela must have realised he was in a hole and his best choice was to stop digging. At that stage he wisely chose to accept the family's demand for a public inquiry which will be presided by Ombudsman and judge emeritus Joseph Zammit Mc Keon, a person who surely enjoys the Opposi- tion's trust. In this sense Abela did the right thing by accepting the popular demand for a public inquiry and he did so without undermining the process by either limiting the terms of reference to the bare essential or appointing a Labour sympa- thiser to head it. Clearly it must have dawned on Abela that the cost of stub- bornness simply outweighed that of an inelegant and terse U-turn. The problem for Abela is he changed tack in a brusque and abrupt way. Ultimately what makes a U-turn elegant is a convincing explanation for the change of heart. And in this case, there was a change of heart but no logical explana- tion to account for it. For weeks Abela had been saying that a public inquiry would clash with a magisterial inquiry and gave the impres- sion the two are incompatible. He continued to do so in a hard-hitting interview with MaltaToday the day after the parliamentary vote, albeit leav- ing room for possible further inquiries after the magisterial report is concluded. But the fact that government has now accepted the demand for a public inquiry simply shows that the legalistic argu- ments brought forward in the past days did not hold water. As argued by the family, both inquiries can be held at the same time, one focusing on administrative and political responsibilities and the other on criminal responsibilities. In fact, Abela could well have avoided all this by making the Opposition motion his own, perhaps by amending it with- out changing its substance a week ago. Instead, by Monday it was clear that the PM was capit- ulating to force majeure. To make things worse his own predecessor Joseph Muscat had stepped in his shoes, sug- gesting that a public inquiry may well be held, albeit after the conclusion of the magiste- rial inquiry. It remains unclear whether Muscat did so to facil- itate Abela's U-turn by warm- ing supporters to the inevita- ble change of heart or whether he did so to take on the role of party saviour in a moment of great difficulty. What is sure is that Abela needed an explanation to prop up his U-turn. One elegant way would have been to sim- ply acknowledge the persever- ance and strength of Isabelle Bonnici. Bowing in front of a grieving mother is no political dishonour. Surely Abela may well argue that he cannot bow in front of every grieving mother, but in this case, we were dealing with a series of fatalities in the construction industry, which deserve national scrutiny and Bonnici has given voice to the pain of other victims. Blame it on the magistrate But rather than opting for humility to explain his U-turn, Abela had to give his most fa- natical supporters a pound of flesh by lashing at one of La- bour's favourite bête noirs - the judiciary. In the psyche of the party's grass roots the ju- Deciphering Abela's U-turn: Not 'The government will no longer remain a hostage to the courts,' Robert Abela said to justify his U-turn on calls for a public inquiry into the Jean Paul Sofia case. But what really lies behind the turn of events, JAMES DEBONO asks.