Alfred Sant believes Byron Camilleri should resign

Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant has said home affairs minister Byron Camilleri "did well" to offer his resignation over the AFM drug heist, but suggested it would have been better had he actually stepped down.  

Last Sunday, Camilleri offered his resignation after he announced that 200kg of seized drugs were stolen from under the AFM's nose in the Safi barracks. Prime Minister Robert Abela immediately refused his resignation.

In an opinion piece on the Malta Independent, Sant stressed that politicians are responsible not only for their own decisions but also for the actions of those operating under their authority. "If they mess up, he or she is equally involved," he said.  

While he acknowledged that accountability must be applied proportionally, Sant argued that in recent years, failures in governance have been increasingly tolerated. 

He pointed to a growing trend since 2000 in which mistakes and misconduct in the public sector have gone unpunished. 

"The impact of such an approach is not evident in the short term, but it continues to grow, leading in the end to a significant relaxation of the seriousness, discipline, and accountability that the public sector needs," he warned. 

Calls for Camilleri's resignation are continuing to grow after several scandals concerning his ministry. 

Last month he faced calls to resign after continuously defending Alex Dalli despite the horrific state of prison during his tenure.