Last Sunday’s revelation about illegally stored explosives in a Gozo AFM camp couldn’t have been more awkwardly timed, for a government allegedly pursuing a crack-down of illegal fireworks following the fatal explosion in Naxxar on March 12.
Since that day – when an explosion killed two people and destroyed three homes in the middle of a densely populated town – the police have conducted extensive investigations into the burning issue of illegal fireworks. These culminated in the arrest and subsequent arraignment of several members of the Naxxar Peace Band Club, after this was found to be the site of yet another illegal explosives cache.
This is all well and good, and at face value the police deserve to be thoroughly commended for treating the issue with the seriousness it deserves. However, the same authorities to crack down on irregularities in the fireworks trade, should also lead by example in other areas involving illegally stored explosive or inflammable material. And when the offenders happen to be the selfsame authorities entrusted with the task of safeguarding public safety – in this case, the Armed Forces – then serious questions are inevitably raised with regard to law enforcement in the country.
The issue was first raised last Sunday, after MaltaToday was informed of the existence of an illegal (and very unsafe) cache of high explosives, bang in the middle of an AFM training camp in il-Qortin, limits of Nadur. The circumstances of this precarious threat to health and safety make for grim reading. For one thing, the storage hut is not earthed against the eventuality of a lightning strike. For another, it is sited directly above a live cable supplying electricity to Nadur, and which is described as being “prone to short-circuit.” To make matters worse, the site does not respect the minimum 270-metre distance from residential areas. It is, in a nutshell, a ghastly accident waiting to happen.
This would be bad enough had the matter surfaced for the first time last Sunday. But in truth, the government had been warned about it as long ago as 1998: when Martin Scicluna, defence advisor to former PM Alfred Sant, had brought the authorities’ attention to the potential hazard in no uncertain terms: “The store is not purpose-built for ammunition storage and is not earthed against lightning strikes,” Mr Scicluna wrote in a memo dated 15 May 1998, “It is situated in the middle of the camp. An explosion could have catastrophic consequences.”
Scicluna also observed that: “In our judgement, the safety aspect must be dealt with immediately. With small arms training and the use of pyrotechnics taking place in the area there is a risk which is not acceptable and should not be taken. … the present location, slap in the middle of the living accommodation area, is unsafe and unacceptable.”
Almost exactly 10 years later to the day, this advice continues to be ignored… although to be fair, it must be said that, when alerted by this newspaper, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi immediately ordered a review of operations, plainly demonstrating that his government plans to take such matters seriously. Unfortunately, however, the same set of facts also raise questions about the responsibility (or lack thereof) of the Armed Forces themselves, which evidently failed to inform their immediate superiors, not to mention the public at large, of the serious risk to life and limb in the vicinity of il-Qortin.
From this perspective, it must be pointed out that the AFM’s official reaction when asked for information regarding this illegal storage site was far from satisfactory. Directly contradicting Scicluna’s 1998 memo, an AFM spokesman said in reply to MalaToday questions that: “The storage and issue of explosives from Qortin Base is a practical and relatively safe operation, which also reduces the frequency of transportation of explosives material from Mosta Fort to Qortin Base.”
In addition, the AFM defended the storage procedure itself: “All these materials are stored according to the standards used in the British Army in that they are segregated according to classification and compatibility…”
This scant regard for the truth sits uneasily with the present government’s commitment to enact a Freedom of Information bill, and also betrays an unaccountable disdain on the part of the Armed Forces for their obligation to protect the citizen at large. While hoping that the authorities take the necessary action to remove this clear and present danger to public health and safety, one also hopes that the same authorities will also address what can only be described as a failed cover-up on the part of the AFM.