Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia did not give a proper reason as to why he was not present at yesterday’s mass dedicated to the two year anniversary of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, instead saying that he will be at the forefront of a formal initiative the party will take in remembrance of the assassination.

“The initiative was taken by PN Sliema committee and everyone was invited to attend. I will certainly be at the forefront of the formal initiative this party will be taking to commemorate the assassination of a journalist, women and mother; (…) the government does everything possible to restrain the truth and to keep the truth coming to the surface.”

Yesterday the PN Sliema committee organised a mass dedicated to Daphne Caruana Galizia which was held at the St Patrick’s Church in Sliema, after which Former PN minister Louise Galea delivered a speech on justice and Daphne Caruana Galizia’s memory at the PN party club in Sliema. A number of PN members and PN local council members, along with ex PN leader and current MP Simon Busuttil, PN Deputy Leaders Robert Arrigo and David Agius and a number of MPs. Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia was nowhere to be seen the whole evening.

The event, when first announced, had received backclash online when Daphne Caruana Galizia’s father had accused the Nationalist Part of opportunism and called it an “insult to Daphne”. Michael Vella was commenting on Manuel Delia’s blog. “To use this opportunistic initiative by the PN is an insult to Daphne, our daughter, to all that she stood for and died for – and to all that she still stands for in the war against corruption and for transparency and honesty in the government,” the murdered journalist’s father had said.