[WATCH] Justice should be served swiftly, Prime Minister says on building collapse tragedy

Political leaders have expressed anguish at Monday’s building collapse that killed a 54-year-old woman with Robert Abela insisting that justice should be served swiftly.

Parliament held a special session on Tuesday with brief speeches by the Prime Minister and Opposition leader Adrian Delia, before adjourning as a sign of respect to the victim, Miriam Pace.

Abela said it was unacceptable for a person to be denied peace of mind in their own house.

“No words can console Miriam’s relatives and like her husband told me yesterday, half of his life, if not all, had vanished… This is not on! This is not on!” Abela said, insisting that justice should be served swiftly.

Prime Minister Robert Abela at the site of the tragedy just before rescuers found Miriam Pace's lifeless body

The Prime Minister said that while a magisterial inquiry and police investigation kicked off in Monday’s incident, he insisted that such investigations should not be taking months to complete.

“While I understand the investigative procedures, I cannot tolerate a situation where families have to wait for months before they can get an answer. I am promising you this will stop,” he said.

Abela said the new rules introduced last year were good bit government will be revising the guidelines once again, especially when it comes to enforcement.

But Abela also turned to industry stakeholders – architects, developers and construction companies – calling on them to up their game.

He said it was unacceptable for a professional architect, who should be overseeing the project to also have a direct commercial interest in it.

Industry should shoulder its responsibilities, warning that enforcement measures will be strengthened, Abela said.

“The weight of the industry will not be shouldered by the small, we shouldn’t be placing people in a situation where they don’t feel safe in their own home,” he said.

The Prime Minister said the judiciary should also shoulder its own responsibility by giving judgments that deter people from repeating the same mistakes.

“Don’t give weak sentences. The message should be simple – this doesn’t happen in our country,” he said.

Opposition leader Adrian Delia

‘Miriam’s death was a betrayal by the system,’ Adrian Delia says

Opposition leader Adrian Delia said Miriam Pace’s death should not be in vain.

“Her death should serve as a way to stop this broken system,” he said, adding that people are now living in fear within their own home because of unsupervised works next to them.

He also hit out at what he described as “a broken system” which he says led to Pace’s death.

“We have a system that has made it easy for people to blame each other. We have a system that has made money the bottom line for our politicians. People have become numbers. This has to stop,” he said.

Delia said the country’s governance has been corroded, claiming that while politicians are in a position to make legislation, the laws don’t seem to apply to everyone.

“Her death was a betrayal,” he said, adding that the state funding of political parties was necessary to cut all links between politics and big business.

Delia said that together with industry experts, the government and Opposition had the opportunity to change legislation, so that no more incidents like that in Hamrun will happen again.

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