A year ago to this day, Miriam Pace was officially pronounced dead. She was dug out from under the rubble of her own home, a place meant for her serenity and that of her family.
The construction industry, through one of its key players, turned that home into her grave.
The Ħamrun tragedy is nowhere close to closure. The ongoing court case has evidenced some disturbing facts: the contractor has been involved in a spate of construction accidents and, in what appears to be a vile attempt at hindering the investigations, heavy machinery was moved around the crime scene. What is also evident is that, a year after Prime Minister Robert Abela promised a speedy delivery of justice, none seems to be forthcoming.
To add insult to injury, the Pace family members have seen their calls for a public inquiry rebuffed. Abela has chosen to dig in his heels, ignoring the high cost of covering up the truths many don’t want revealed: for example, truths such as those about Sandro Chetcuti’s familiarity with politicians, as emerged from the much-maligned public inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder.
The prime minister clearly underestimates the damage this stance is causing him in terms not only of PR but also to the stature of his leadership. A leader cannot promise justice then strive to hide information from the eyes of the expectant public because it will only raise suspicion and speculation about potential cover-ups; a lesson Abela should have learnt from his predecessor’s flow and ebb.
It is, yes, a matter of public knowledge. We all deserve to know what caused Pace’s death and what should be done to avoid a repeat of this tragedy. Beyond a thorough investigation of this specific case, the quest for justice also means that the public should learn of the system of familiarity between politicians and construction magnates, who, in an environment of near-complete deregulation, have contributed to Pace’s death, of Sarjo Konteh and of countless other workers on various construction sites.
A year ago, I sat in a TV studio debating the Malta Developers’ Association’s Michael Stivala. The saintly Stivala tried, in his excessively languid manner, to pour water on the shocking events of that day by stating that “he’s been suspended”, a reference to the MDA board member who was developing the site next to the Pace household.
Stivala spoke as if he was after some sort of medal.
A year later, the MDA is calling the help of its friends in politics for its seat on the board of the Building and Construction Authority.
In the meantime, former Nationalist Party big cheese, Marthese Portelli, has joined the developers’ lobby. This is also an attempt to pair the misfiring Chetcuti with someone who looks less like those ‘cowboys’ the MDA so fervently claims it wants to rein in. Appearances aside, recent news reports have confirmed Portelli’s role as a lobbyist between the developers and the remnants of the opposition.
Hermann Schiavone dropped a loud one with a proposal that should make everyone’s stomach churn. Indeed, the MDA sitting on the BCA’s seat would be a medal even bigger than what Stivala hoped for: a reward for the brutal and senseless death of an innocent woman, a citizen like us, and of all others who died because of the construction sector’s greed, arrogance and hidden power.
It is also an act of sheer hypocrisy to take over the Pace family’s call for a public inquiry, then betray it by asking for more powers to the very people who are, directly and indirectly, responsible for her death.
Shameless attempts at political prostitution aren’t limited to the opposition, as we all know.
The proposed bill has left much to be desired across its various areas and is worded with the same vagueness of a message in a fortune cookie. We’ve highlighted key issues already, including the composition of the board and tribunal, the issuing of exemptions, the authority’s operations and, in particular, the farcical idea of allowing a private entity to take over a function that should be carried out by the authority itself. This is a trojan horse allowing the MDA to keep administering the (mysteriously-disappeared) register of contractors.
This would only serve to transpose into a law an agreement signed in 2019 between the MDA and Ian Borg and which the ombudsman has already ruled as “illegal”. Aaron Farrugia has yet to revise this howler but all we hear from him and his secretariat are plaudits for the developers’ lobby and belated calls for ‘compromise’.
Besides Farrugia’s inexistent stamp on the bill – with proposals from civil society and professional bodies still being ignored – it is also interesting how Robert Musumeci is, once again, involved in the drafting of construction regulations after his first flop in 2019.
Musumeci prides himself on being both a lawyer and an architect but his track record – unless we’re talking about weird ODZ permits – indicates that he is a monument to incompetence in both trades.
A year has passed since Pace was taken from her family. During this year, she has been forgotten, then betrayed, by both sides of the House of Representatives.
Nothing will bring her back to life. It is up to us to stand in the way of a super-lobby and its thirst for further deregulation of the industry, which will lead, in time, to more senseless deaths such as that of Citizen Pace.
It could happen to any of us, literally.
Wayne Flask is a member, of Moviment Graffitti.
