Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1517531
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 MARCH 2024 8 OPINION A tribute to Isabelle Bonnici BEFORE that unforgettable Corradino site tragedy and fatality on 3 Decem- ber, 2022, involving Jean Paul Sofia, his mother Isabelle had already gone through a period of great hardship and suffering. She had already lost anoth- er son two years before Jean Paul was born. Her first son, whom she had also named Jean Paul Sofia, died five days after birth because he was born prema- turely. Isabelle's story is one of resilience and courage in the face of adversity and unspeakable devastation. She did not cower. Instead, she evolved into a warrior for justice. It should help us understand and shape our own sim- ilar journey in activism. Hers is a re- markable journey in the aftermath of that tragedy, a living, gripping tale of one strong and courageous woman's quest to find those responsible for the horrible and untimely death of her only child, an illustration of the inner strengths unearthed by a mother con- fronted with unspeakable sorrow. A journey during which she is grounded by her love for her lost on- ly child, for at its core, hers is also a love story amidst the inherent pain and heartbreak she went through and is still going through. One might think that when people see her, they think she's done so well; she's been so strong. But I don't think that's the case, as, I believe, behind all the scenes we today re-enact, she was a wreck. We only need to remember how she recounted the months she spent spearheading the fraught and compli- cated quest for justice. She fought and campaigned in search of the whole truth behind her son's tragedy at a time when the police and the justice system failed so dramatical- ly to do so. Despite the grief and despair that most of us would ever be able to im- agine, despite ongoing family respon- sibilities and an increasingly strained relationship with the authorities, and despite an overwhelming lack of sup- port from the systems in place suppos- edly to protect our shared communi- ties, Isabelle pursued. But that pursuit came with incom- prehensible, though disappointingly unsurprising, criticism. When we're shown footage from press conferences, interview appear- ances and court hearings, Isabelle is in- credible. She holds a level of command and control that the best of us could only dream of having, even without the weight of such huge grief on our shoulders. Isabelle speaks clearly and fervently about what happened to her son before and on that fatal day in De- cember, where the system failed, and why she won't rest until all those re- sponsible for this preventable tragedy pay for what they've done. Retracing Isabelle's experiences in light of the findings and recommenda- tions of the Jean Paul Sofia public in- quiry reminds us how depressingly lit- tle had changed from the time that he lost his life to date: 15 whole months wasted just like that, with nothing learned from that tragedy while, in the meantime, construction deaths and ac- cidents continued unabated. But the change that, hopefully, will be affected by the public inquiry's conclu- sions will not have happened without Isabelle's determination to keep going at whatever cost. Isabelle is one of the most formida- ble people in recent Maltese history, and she symbolises an innate resil- ience within grieving parents as well as the wider community that we can only hope continues to resonate deep enough to affect further change as all those finding themselves in her situa- tion and plight carry her fight for jus- tice forward. Before this latest public inquiry, pub- lic inquiries failed to promote mean- ingful public participation because they relied on shallow forms of partici- pation that did not challenge the status quo or prompt radical policy change. But, thanks to Isabelle's perseverance and insistence on a public inquiry, this inquiry, chaired by the Ombuds- man, Judge Emeritus Joseph Zammit McKeon, might well signal the start of public inquiries having the potential to be flourishing sites of deliberative de- mocracy. Hopefully, from now on, public in- quiries will be well-suited to become spaces of meaningful engagement and deliberative democracy. To accom- plish this, public inquiry procedures must be purposefully crafted to be inclusive of the public they are seek- ing to engage. Without meaningful public participation, public inquiries are merely another state-created pol- icy-making centre, lacking citizen in- put. If the purpose of public inquiries is to investigate tragedies and propose recommendations that will be support- ed in their implementation, the public must be involved. We now know that existing poli- cy-making forums involved in the con- struction industry are incapable or un- equipped to deal with practically any issue. In the aftermath of this public in- quiry, all building and construction regulatory authorities should be hang- ing their heads in shame at their fail- ure to identify and tackle the failings identified by the inquiry itself. While it is a leap forward to now have a set of recommendations that, as promised by the government, will be swiftly and accurately implemented, at the same time we cannot forget all the loss of life and damage that have been caused throughout these last years and for which we cannot make amends. The public inquiry that Isabelle painstakingly managed to force the government to launch determined a clear sign that basic oversight of our critical industries simply isn't happen- ing. Undoubtedly, it is just the latest evidence that the regulatory regimes that oversee large parts of the Maltese economy and society are failing. Jean Paul's demise and the conse- quent permanent grief within his par- ents are just one of many other disas- trous unintended consequences that occur as the direct consequence of poor intentional choices by our top political decision-makers. Mark Said is a veteran lawyer Mark Said Isabelle Bonnici