Guarding the institutions

The country has a disillusioned ombudsman. Looks like he is convinced we are being cheated out of our ombudsman institution.

Joe Sammut says it crudely, á la Rabelais but, in substance, there are no revelations in what he says to the public. Clubability and jobbery have been the bad companions of Maltese society for ages. Most of the times, the job is for the man and not the man for the job, and selection boards are composed ad hoc to see safely through an exercise of expert injustice. The patient may die but the operation is always a success.

The matter is of some gravity because it hurts society even more than the individual. The country is robbed of its best trained and talented individuals in a democracy whose essential belief is that all good comes from individuals.

The present administration is making a historical effort to give us a new and better style of living. New wine, however, is not put in old kegs.

Of course, nobody is that naïve to hope that hanky-panky business in appointments will one day be eradicated. Like its partner, prostitution, the phenomenon is here for keeps. All we can hope for is to contain it. Such containment, however, is no job for one man, even if that man happens to be Joe Sammut. Since the main victim is society, it is society as a whole that must react in its own defence. The struggle needs to be collegial.

Being a good statesman, Dr Eddie Fenech Adami can take care of his enemies all by himself. He, however, needs the help of the Lord to take care of his friends. Who could be that Lord if not the journalist? It is the journalist's specific job to vigilantly watch over our democratic institutions. Let us not wait to see it all come from government and parliament. Our journalist is mature enough today. Let's go to work.