We Were Tricked By People We Trusted And Admired, Chris Fearne Admits In Powerful Speech
In a powerful speech in Parliament, Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne opened up about how he felt tricked by colleagues he used to trust and admire for years.
“It’s not easy to work with people you trust for years and then find out that they weren’t necessarily what you believed they were,” Fearne said. “It’s not easy but we must have the courage to recognise it and, where necessary, change things.”
@lovinmaltaofficial Chris Fearne’s speech in Parliament last Friday was a pretty powerful one 👀 #fyp #fypmalta #malta #lovinmalta #parliament #chrisfearne #minister
Fearne delivered his speech to close off a debate last Friday on the public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, which found the state responsible for her murder by creating an atmosphere of impunity, generated at the heart of Castille.
Although he didn’t mention any names, he said the government’s reforms over the past year and a half “hurt people we used to work with and who we used to trust and admire”.
Fearne didn’t mince his words either in condemning the way certain people tried to enrich themselves at the expense of others, stating that this goes against the very principles of the Labour Party.
“I’ve been militating in the PL for decades and I know the Labourites well. The Labourite on the street wants a quiet and simple life, they want the entire country to progress and they want their families to have a better life than their own.”
“The public inquiry’s reference to how a small group of people may have enriched themselves at the expense of the nation goes against the PL’s beliefs and hurts me to my core.”
“In a country led by a PL government, it cannot be that a few people enrich themselves at the cost of the many.”
“As the legitimate government, the inquiry report places the onus and responsibility on us to change things, and my friends and I feel this responsibility.”
“We have a duty to change things as well as the courage to change things. We have the courage to recognise and change things that weren’t done right, even if they occurred under our watch.”
Fearne endorsed Prime Minister Robert Abela’s apology to the nation for the state’s shortcomings that led to Caruana Galizia, but warned an apology alone isn’t enough and that justice must be served if several ongoing inquiries indicate further wrongdoing.
“I said in November 2019 that we should work with businesses but that we shouldn’t be led by businesses, and I’ve kept saying the same thing since then.”
“It’s not enough to simply say mistakes won’t repeat themselves; if mistakes took place in the past and it’s not 100% certain that people didn’t benefit from special friendships, then we must have the courage to change things.”
Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat
“This is a time to practice what we believe in, as Maltese and as Labourites. The few cannot benefit at the expense of the many, and if that’s what happened, we must correct it, even if we will hurt our own people.”
“Correct businesses are encouraged this attitude but businesses who have things to hide aren’t, and have a good reason not to be.”
Fearne ended his speech by insisting that the government must adopt a “full transparency” policy if it truly wants to be a government of the people.
“Over the past year and a half, I had the honour of leading a team of professionals throughout the pandemic. We were transparent throughout – we spoke out when things were good but didn’t conceal things when they weren’t good.”
“Transparency is essential if we want to be a government of the people. The inquiry has taught us not to try and portray things as they aren’t because the truth will out eventually, so we must be transparent.”
“This is a time to separate men from boys and women from girls, a time for us to stand up for what we believe in. We shouldn’t mind recognising what went wrong and changing it, but this should also be a time of national unity.”
What do you make of Chris Fearne’s speech?
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