Manuel Delia Challenges Prime Minister For Saying He ‘Anticipated’ Court’s Daphne Memorial Decision
Repubblika activist Manuel Delia has described as “disturbing” a statement by Prime Minister Robert Abela that he had anticipated the constitutional court’s ruling against the government over the removal of the Valletta memorial to Daphne Caruana Galizia.
In a blogpost, Delia argued that Abela’s statement means the Prime Minister must have either had inside knowledge from the court or had known that the government was fighting a losing battle because it had been breaking the law.
“Did Robert Abela know all along that the government had no hope to win this case because he knew Owen Bonnici had been breaking the law? If that’s what he thought and he felt it was inevitable that we would win this case, why does he insist Owen Bonnici should not be fired?”
Delia reiterated his call for the resignation of Education Minister Owen Bonnici, who was politically responsible for the Cleansing Directorate at the time.
“Yesterday’s court decision was not an ordinary human rights case where an individual persuades a court that a law of the country goes against human rights or because some low-level administrator applied a law unfairly in breach of human rights,” he wrote.
“This was a case where what was examined was Owen Bonnici’s direct decision, applying what he claimed was his discretionary authority to order public employees to act in a certain way: in this case removing flowers and candles left by protesters at a memorial every day, sometimes several times a day.”
“Saying this was a ‘collegial’ decision of the entire cabinet at the time does not make the decision legal or pardonable. As the Nuremberg trials taught us, superior orders are no defence to a breach of law. In any case in court Owen Bonnici assumed responsibility for it and witnesses testified they got their orders directly from him.”
“He cannot both say he was doing what he thought was for the best and at the same time kick upstairs the responsibility for his decision by saying he was following cabinet’s orders.”
Delia warned Abela that, by keeping Bonnici in his Cabinet, he is contradicting his own pledge to give top regard to good governance.
“Now Robert Abela is retaining in his cabinet a minister who has been humiliated by a court of constitutional jurisdiction, for his behaviour chastised for being ‘surreal’, ‘divisive’, ‘borne of pique’ and ‘absurd’ and most fundamentally in breach of the fundamental right to free expression,” he said.
In comments to journalists this morning, Bonnici played down the implications of the court’s decision, insisting that he was only ever interested in safeguarding the Great Siege Monument and that his decision to clean the memorial placed under it was not born out of spite.
“This was a controversial issue and our institutions have now resolved it,” he said. “Some have said [my decision] was born out of spite but I deny this. My only interest was in safeguarding the monument and in keeping it for all the people.”
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