Governance, clean transport and media freedom are the key themes tackled in today’s Editorials.
The Times of Malta argues that the rule of law does not collapse only when certain institutions fail to act on serious and persistent allegations of wrongdoing by people in high places. Delays and inefficiency in the administration of justice also undermine the notion of the rule of law. The Editor shares some truly concerning statistics: The European median for civil cases in appeal stage stood at 122 days, in Malta that’s 783 days. It gets worse in criminal appeals where the European median is 77 days but a staggering 1,025 days for cases before Malta’s Court of Criminal Appeal.
The Independent refers to former PM’s interrogation at the Police HQ. The Editor argues that it was a humiliation for a former head of government to be told to go to the police headquarters to answer questions about a murder. The police could have quietly gone to Muscat to seek the information they needed; requiring him to go to Floriana adds more significance to the fact that the police see Muscat as a person who knows or might know details that can help them in their work. That a former prime minister feels obliged to publicly announce that he is not being investigated goes a long way to expose how far the links between the assassination and the office he used to lead go.
L-Orizzont speaks about the encouraging take-up of alternative transport in Malta, referring to private companies offering cab and ride-sharing services which reduce congestion on our roads. The Editor notes that other countries are far ahead in this and expresses hope that more is done locally in this regard so as to improve the quality of the environment we live in.
In-Nazzjon describes a number of episodes as an “attack on the media”, referring to the decision to axe Xarabank despite the huge popularity among Maltese viewers. The Editor argues that this was not the first move throughout Labour administrations where critical voices were silenced, with the worst episode being the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galiza.
