I asked former Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano to comment on the President's decision yesterday to retain Adrian Delia as opposition leader. Here are his answers: Q. The constitutional text seems to require the president to remove a leader of opposition that is not supported by a majority of opposition MPs. And yet President George [...]
Statement by Repubblika issued earlier today: Repubblika is very concerned with the current situation in Parliament. Unfortunately, our Constitution seems to provide the opportunity to people in power to act outside basic rules of democracy and in defiance of common sense, ironically justifying their actions on the Constitution itself. We are disappointed that our Constitution [...]
The constitutional rules about what happens when a leader of the opposition no longer counts a majority of opposition MPs as his followers have been on our statute books since independence. They’ve never been used before now. They’re a bit like the fruit juicer your mother bought you when she thought you needed to change [...]
A thousand days ago today Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed by car bomb just outside her Bidnija home. A formidable journalist trusted by sources who risked much to help her do her work and followed by thousands of people in a country that depended on her to know what its government was doing. She published [...]
In this interview recorded earlier today, Kenneth Rijock speaks to me about the impact of Malta's passport-selling, money-laundering and corruption. He provides analysis on the outcome of the Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad case and why people in Malta - particularly corrupt politicians - should be anxious about travelling. Manuel Delia · Kenneth Rijock Interview
Manuel Delia · A Test For The Presidency Occasions when the president has to take decisions without instructions from the prime minister are rare. Our president acts in place of the Queen of England. And the Queen of England can only take initiatives on her own personal affairs and not without restrictions in that case [...]
A US district court judge has ordered the release of Ali Sadr Hashemi Nejad ending restrictions on his movements in place since his arrest in February 2017. Ali Sadr’s travel restrictions and house arrest have been dropped and his bail bond of $38 million dollars has also been released. He will now be given back [...]
The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life threw out a complaint that alleged Jason Azzopardi behaved unethically when he acted as Repubblika’s lawyer when the NGO asked the police to investigate the death of migrants at sea over the Easter weekend. The complaint was filed by an anonymous individual who claimed he was the father [...]
Legal advice seen by this website and requested by a group of MPs who have asked the President to appoint Therese Comodini Cachia as opposition leader, confirms that the constitution requires the President to remove Adrian Delia immediately and replace him with their candidate for the post. Confusion arose yesterday when Adrian Delia said he [...]
The madness of the situation in the Nationalist Party with Adrian Delia strapped with explosives threatening to blow the whole thing up if he’s not allowed to blow the whole thing up, makes it almost tempting to look away from what else is happening in the country. Of course, that’s because Adrian Delia strapped himself [...]
For now I will just say that this will make uncomfortable news for Robert Abela and Adrian Delia. Two birds. One woman. Godspeed ma’am.
Emanuel Delia · A Leader In Name. Another In Fact. The vote of the PN parliamentary group two days ago could have happened a year ago, even two. It could have happened before Adrian Delia was elected party leader in September 2017. The day before that ballot, then party leader Simon Busuttil did his final [...]
Mhux Xandir Malta · Mhux Xandir Malta Episode 1 Repubblika announced today the launch of MHUX XANDIR MALTA, a satirical and irreverent podcast, describing it as "a spindle up the butt of Malta’s ridiculous but not so funny political class". From Repubblika's Facebook page: "They say laughter is the best medicine. This podcast will not [...]
The government's bills to change the composition of the judicial appointments committee after pressure from the Venice Commission were meant to remove government control on choosing judges. But the new system gives that power to the President who is appointed by the government as well. A reform on the way the President is chosen makes [...]
There are 50 people out in our waters who have spent another night on choppy seas lying on metal floors caked with cow dung the animals shat a week ago. That’s a result of government policy not to allow migrants to land before European countries accept to take them off our hands. The policy is [...]
Join us in Great Siege Square Valletta at 6pm on 16 July. The fight goes on. We need you with us. For Daphne. For Malta.
Adrian Delia is the archetype of the populist tyrant. It doesn’t matter to him that he doesn’t have the support of his Members of Parliament. It does not matter to him that you can’t have a leader of opposition if the opposition does not follow him. He will stick around claiming legitimacy from his party [...]
Only Parliament can fire the attorney general. Peter Grech is not the mastermind of the corruption and crime perpetrated by Joseph Muscat’s gang. But he was their willing tool. They needed him to instruct the police to stay away from the Nexia BT offices where evidence of corruption was allowed to perish. There can be [...]
Around 50 migrants are in Malta’s territorial waters within sight of our coast. They have been sleeping on the metal floor of sea-going stables right next to the dung of animals that have been delivered to Africa and that has been fermenting and rotting for days. These pictures taken by the crew of the MV [...]
Emanuel Delia · 'I'm Behind You' For a minute, leave aside the political calculus: who wins the next election; how Labour consolidates its ample majorities even though it rightly deserves exile from government until a generation that supported, protected and perpetrated corruption is outgrown; how the PN stays afloat; whether it’s time for a third, [...]