Daphne murder: opportunity lost

Early on a Monday morning, the Prime Minister stood on a podium in Castille, Valletta to tell us of a police operation underway. They were rounding up suspects that may be involved in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The suspects weren’t arraigned yet, but Joseph Muscat, possibly speaking in English for the international press to pick up sound bites, was up there to announce it all.

He said he could not wait for the arraignments as, given the scale of the operation, it made no sense trying to keep mum. It would have led to rumours, he said. On that point, he was right.

Sadly, the man who should have been up there in his stead, the Police Commissioner, was nowhere to be seen. He had a minor event later that day. The media was there with piles of questions to ask, but he scurried off before they came close. It came across like he was not the man in charge, giving more credence to the calls for his removal.

The Prime Minister should never have addressed that press conference on a police investigation. He tried to sound cautious, saying he did not want to prejudice the case as had happened in 2002 when then prime minister Eddie Fenech Adami held a press conference on...