The young politician began her speech by greeting Sofia’s mother, Isabelle Bonnici (who was in the room) and commending her for her “courage, stamina, and above all, love, dedication, and tenacity” during her painful quest for justice.

Borg Bonello continued to say that only people who have suffered a loss at the hands of the “unregulated” construction industry ,“where authorities often turn a blind eye”, can understand her pain.

The number of construction related deaths has totalled 49.

“Before, we used to say that someone needs to die for us to finally rise and do something. Now, we don’t even care about the death of a 20-year-old, so much so, that the Prime Minister is conducting a public inquiry in order to not reveal the whole truth.”

“Isabelle has been fighting this inquiry since December.”

Her speech continued with the allegation that during these seven months, the government did not just delay the facts; “they covered them up”.

“Mr. Prime Minister, Minister of Justice,” Borg Bonello said, addressing the high-level politicians, “a magisterial inquiry is not the same as a public inquiry. No, a magisterial inquiry alone is not enough for complete justice.”

“The difference is this: a magisterial inquiry only speaks about criminal responsibility, whether there was criminal action and negligence leading to the death of Jean Paul, whether criminal law has been violated, and if so, by whom.”

“A public inquiry is different. A public inquiry uncovers institutional failures, legislative and administrative, it investigates and uncovers whether and how the law has been enforced according to the administrative responsibilities of public authorities.”

She went on to explain that a public inquiry reveals what needs to change so that another tragedy like that endured by Sofia and his family does not happen again.

“So that another death can be avoided, so that another mother won’t need to fight for months for something as basic as justice for her son, so that another work place doesn’t become a cemetery for its workers.”

Another difference between these two types of inquiries is that the magistrate decides whether or not they want to make the conclusive findings public; while most information of a public inquiry is eventually published.

Borg Bonello aptly pointed out that, as a lawyer, the Prime Minister understands these details, thus making his decision a conscious choice – not one borne out of “incompetence”.

“And that is why I am scandalised. You know exactly what you are doing, you know that you are obstructing justice, and you know that you are protecting someone instead of pursuing justice for a Maltese citizen, a citizen whose only fault was to stand up for his rights and go to work.

After this important observation, Borg Bonello stated that the government has been spreading “propaganda deliberately made to mislead people” – this is considered to be disinformation and it is a very dangerous tactic used actors to manipulate the public, if the government is employing disinformation then the Maltese public should be very concerned.

“The accused is the government’s negligence that failed in its duty to change things after 49 deaths,” she began concluding.

Today, both sides of this chamber need to come together, let’s find out what really happened on the 3rd of December 2022.”

Do you think that the state should grant a public inquiry into JeanPaul Sofia’s death?