Hoards of people turned up for Jean Paul Sofia’s vigil on Monday, to fight for justice, in the form of a public inquiry into the 20-year-old’s violent construction death.

It was a clear case that public pressure was in action – with the Prime Minister announcing a public inquiry mere hours before. Sofia’s family, friends and indeed a nation will see the first slither of justice, with a public inquiry that will shed light on the state’s failings to protect workers.

The worrying news is that justice is rarely served wholly if at all, inquiries or not.

A recent report by the Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation and PILN confirmed that out of 47 cases of construction deaths between 2010 and 2022, just five saw court action taken.

A large majority (68%) of court cases remain open to this day, with only 15 cases (32%) closed.

In 15 cases (32%), no court decisions could be taken, because no one could be prosecuted. In just 5% of the cases, court action was taken.

To add insult to injury, massive gaps in available information mean that the report couldn’t find any justification as to why no action could be taken in those 15 cases while pending cases continue to pile up and gather dust as the years go by.

The last court decision on a construction fatality was in 2015. Since then, there have been 33 more people who lost their lives in Malta’s most dangerous industry.

In a bitter irony, just hours before the vigil, news of 2023’s first construction death broke. A 26-year-old Syrian man Mohammed Kasem Hashem Alkhateeb died while in Mater Dei Hospital, three days after a construction site incident in Rabat left him injured.

So while this public inquiry is a victory for Sofia’s family and the nation, this shouldn’t be a reason for public pressure to dwindle.

Sofia’s public inquiry could and should set a precedent for stricter reforms, better accountability and safety. For the first steps of justice for dozens of victims: people like Miriam Pace, Mohammed Kasem Hashem Alkhateeb, Dieidy Coulibaly, and all the unnamed victims to died in construction sites. Until then, we must continue to find strength in our numbers.

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