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Matthew Vella
Dom Mintoff, the socialist firebrand who was Prime Minister of Malta from 1971 to 1984, attracts curious onlookers and elicits sniggering murmurs at the Maltese courts.
At a very ripe 88, Mintoff is understandably a shadow of his former, engrossing and imposing self. Instead, he ambles slowly inside the courtroom, accompanied by his trusty lawyer and confidant Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, the man he chose to lead the Malta Labour Party and Malta after stepping down in 1984.
Sat down, he confers with Mifsud Bonnici. Hard of hearing, Mintoff’s gruff voice is audible all around the courtroom as another case is in hearing. The court registrar knocks his pen impatiently on the desk. Mifsud Bonnici acknowledges the annoyance with a gesture. Mintoff coyly asks him whether he was “speaking too loud.”
Michael Falzon, the former Nationalist minister, is in court as well. As chairman of the Water Services Corporation, he is appearing on behalf of the entity after Mintoff’s water supply was cut off due to outstanding bills, allegedly seven years of unpaid bills, leaving Mintoff to plead for his water from a neighbour. And the angry octogenarian is suing the corporation.
Two women whisper to one another about how Mintoff has “lost weight”, no longer the figure of rude health he once was, as he is helped to the stand by his other lawyer, Prof. Ian Refalo.
Mintoff immediately immerses himself in a doleful commiseration of his health condition. “I’m not supposed to be here,” he pleads to Mr Justice Geoffrey Valenzia. “First of all, let me explain to the court. I am ill and supposed to be in bed.”
Mintoff rambles on, saying the matter is a question of either arriving at a solution or instead dragging it out. “I am not expecting any miracles from the court,” he moans.
Amidst the palaver, Mintoff briefly evokes a past episode over how he was accused of trying to bring a Labour government down back in 1998.
After just five minutes, the Judge orders that Mintoff gives his statement to a lawyer in writing, saving him the inconvenience of coming to court. Mintoff turns to Prof Ian Refalo to ask him what has just been said. Refalo shouts down his ear that his testimony can be presented on paper instead of “risking his life” coming to court.
Onlookers and the lawyers inside the courtroom appear amused as Mintoff walks out of the court with Mifsud Bonnici. Everyone eyes him as if they are witnessing a rare spectacle of a tamed creature once feared by everyone, hardly the fitting twilight for Malta’s father figure.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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