Joseph Muscat’s government had been in power for 1682 days on the day Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated. That’s 4 years, 7 months and 7 days.
On the last of those 4 years, 7 months and 7 days Daphne Caruana Galizia would write those fatal words that are now part of the history of this nation. “The crooks are everywhere you look now. The situation is desperate.”
It took just 1682 days, probably even less, for the crooks to spread themselves “everywhere you look”. It took just nigh 5 years under the watch of Joseph Muscat’s government for the situation to become desperate.
The 16th October 2017 was a dark day in Malta’s history. It was the day a journalist was brutally silenced for doing her work. Daphne Caruana Galizia was shedding light on an intricate web of corruption within the political elite. That corruption, that democratic backsliding, did not stop on the 16th October. That day only served to ignite a flame and a quest for justice – as that banner crafted by Daphne’s father loudly proclaims in the fields of Bidnija.
Seven years have gone by since that fateful day. Seven years without Daphne. Seven years in which the battle for the truth has not abated. Yet seven years in which the backsliding, the corruption, the lack of meritocracy also seem to hold strong.
Time. It still surprises me. That figure of 4 years 7 months and one week is impressive when you think of it. It is a brief amount of time in which a huge number of corrupt decisions and appointments were made. the seeds of scandals must have been sown early on during the Muscat legislature but they grew fast enough to fester and draw the attention of Malta’s sharpest investigative journalist.
4 years, 7 months and one week were enough to turn the Running Commentary into an encyclopedic chronicle of the realm of crooked dealings. Seven years after the attempt to silence the chronicler’s message we still do not realise the enormity of Muscat’s government’s achievements. Hospitals, power stations, health agreements, public contracts, the public service itself – all of these twisted to the service of a self-serving, self-entitled cadre of trough hogging pigs.
In the course of one legislature the systemic breakdown of a nation was plotted and put into action. Daphne Caruana Galizia’s attention to detail was too uncomfortable for the record breaking concocters of corruption. They had managed to neutralise the constitutional checks and balances but Caruana Galizia was too loud, too distracting, too dangerously close to the truth to be allowed the luxury of working.
They tried to cripple her through her resources. They tried to bully her into submission. They tried sent little men to stalk her and follow her every move. When that did not work they moved in for the kill.
Then it happened. 4 years, 7 months and one week after Joseph Muscat was elected to power a bomb went off in Bidnija that would send shock waves to the system.
Seven years later we take stock of the battle for justice for Daphne. It is a battle for transparency that goes beyond the freedom of expression and safety of journalists. Like it or not, it has become a battle for the Republic and whatever values remain.
The long, hard struggle remains essentially a frustrating effort. The damage wrought on the constitutional balances in the first five years of Labour in power runs deep. Initiatives at national and international level following the assassination are still not bearing the desired fruits and resistance to proper change remains palpable.
As the conversation on Malta’s political future continues, it is clear that the spirit of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s work lives on in those who continue to seek truth and justice. The path ahead is one of reflection, reform, and resilience, as we grapple with our past to shape a more just and open society.
