When the bomb went off

It was 2:58pm when the silence in the rural village of Bidnija was shattered by a massive blast. The unthinkable had happened. Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered as she drove down the hill. Today, marks seven years from that day when the life of a journalist, a woman, a mother, a daughter, was snuffed out in a flash.

In court testimony, farmer Francis Sant had described what he saw on that fateful day as he dove up the hill and saw Daphne’s white car coming towards him on the opposite side of the road.

“The person inside the car appeared to be panicking. It made me afraid. I heard a small bang, like fireworks. Then I heard a piercing scream… a second, much larger explosion happened a few seconds later and the car came towards me, past the wall and into the field. I saw parts of her ripped off… It was terrible. Then I saw blood... I realised they were human parts. I could do nothing… It was so cruel.”

The haunting description of Daphne’s last moments is gut-wrenching but it would be a mistake to erase it; suppress it; and silence it. It must be recalled and retold.

But it would also be a mistake to mark the seventh anniversary of Daphne’s assassination by stopping at the events that took place on 16 October 2017 and the court processes that followed, which lifted the lid on the criminal plan to eliminate her and the people who made it happen.

Daphne’s murder will forever be a stain on the national conscience. It requires a collective effort to understand and address the ills that created the climate of impunity and impropriety that emboldened some to kill her when she became too inconvenient for them.

Seven years on, the time is ripe to reflect on Daphne’s legacy. A few lessons may have been learnt but too much still has to be achieved.

Legal and constitutional amendments to strengthen freedom of expression and provide better protection to journalists remain stuck in limbo. Despite having promised a White Paper last year when it received new recommendations from the Experts Committee, the government has failed to deliver.

Even where it has acted – the quick transposition of the EU anti-SLAPP directive – it is far from perfect and could be substantially improved.

It is pretty obvious that Robert Abela’s government has little appetite to rock the boat and instead of moving forward with the necessary media reform, several exponents in the administration are instead toying with regressive ideas such as increasing penalties for libel and re-introducing criminal libel.

But Daphne’s legacy is not just about the media, journalists and freedom of expression. The conclusions of the public inquiry a few years back had proposed the introduction of a raft of laws to combat corruption.

From laws to criminalise the dereliction of duty by public officials, to laws criminalising mafia-style association, to a system of adequately resourced investigative magistrates focussed on corruption and major crimes, the public inquiry laid down a blue print for legal reform that would have given the State the tools to combat corruption and financial crime.

Nonetheless, the recommendations remained just that – recommendations to be forgotten, shelved.

To this day, the incestuous relationship between big business and political parties; the disregard for proper ethical behaviour by politicians; the inability of the police and our judicial system to convict those accused with corruption; leave a sour legacy.

The only enduring change is the activism that was ignited by Daphne’s murder; activism that seeks justice and strives to hold power to account. This activism has acted as a national conscience of sorts – it led to a magisterial inquiry that resulted in criminal charges being filed against former prime minister Joseph Muscat and several others.

The bomb that killed Daphne also ignited our collective conscience and made us realise over time that the first step for criminals to succeed is for good people to say nothing.

This leader hopes that seven years on, this country can find the courage to heal by ensuring justice in its entirety is done.