Why the Nationalist Party has become a ghost of what it once was

Nationalist supporters I know try to kid themselves into believing that, should they win the elections next time round, Lawrence Gonzi will have a free hand to appoint a Cabinet of his choice. Thus implying that he might not have had that much freedom of choice this time round.

On the other hand, other less discerning Nationalist voters try to boost their morale by congratulating themselves that Dr Gonzi was the first Nationalist who had the political clout to cut former Minister John Dalli down to size.

What they all seem to be unprepared for is that, apart from the fact that it is evident that Mr Dalli's full-blown criticism is bound to haunt them till election date and, even more so, most probably beyond, many of them were taken completely by surprise at the manner in which sleaze and scandals have dogged their efforts in recent weeks.

Particularly when they had everything planned to reach an all-time high with the 'celebration' held at Mater Dei Hospital as well as the discussion of a draft bill in Parliament, which although ostensibly geared at fine-tuning public administration, seemed to have the hidden agenda of trying to paralyse an incoming government in more ways than one.

No wonder that a few days ago an editorial in The Times stated: "Rightly or wrongly, public administration is under a cloud, with several allegations and accusations of wrongdoing, inefficiency or excessive ministerial interference in government entities."

Although a number of ministers have turned to the Commission Against Corruption to 'clear' their names, the commission's findings are hardly treated seriously by anybody because, after all these years, they have hardly ever found against the government of the day, or else initiated investigations on their own initiative on the basis of serious allegations made in Parliament or in the printed media.

As I recently had occasion to point out, a particular minister even turned to the commission to 'defend' himself against accusations of mine that had limited themselves so far to lack of administrative ethics more than anything else.

Although the minister concerned tried to imply that I had embarked on a character assassination attempt against the head of his private secretariat, I made it clear from the outset that I had nothing personal against the person involved, nor did I intend to rubbish his technical skills.

What I found - and continue to find - unacceptable is that, regardless of whether the person involved happens to be a civil servant or not, given that he currently holds the political title of head of a minister's private secretariat, it makes little sense that he has been involved in evaluation and adjudication committees of various multi-million liri tenders; not to mention that in the case of the NIDMS - National ID Management Systems tender - he happened to be chairman of the Core Evaluation Committee while, in at least another case, he also headed the adjudication board or committee of an integrated utilities business system tender involving both WSC and Enemalta.

To date I am still awaiting a detailed, comprehensive reply from the minister concerned to list all the mega IT projects in which his private secretariat head has been involved either in an adjudication or evaluation capacity.

Some might argue that there is nothing illegal in such behaviour. Agreed. I am also confident that the person involved has respected procurement regulations to the letter. But the involvement of a political appointee in a number of mega projects initiated by his own minister or ministry defies logic.

Even if we are prepared to concede the fact that the minister concerned might have opted for a 'control freak' approach rather than a mere 'hands on' approach, such behaviour poses many questions, which only the minister - rather than an allegedly toothless Commission Against Corruption - can ever hope to address.

The recent spate of scandals was worrying not only because it involved Nationalist supporters but also because some of those who are being accused of wrongdoing are even reported to work or have worked very closely with certain ministers, either in their private secretariat or in their constituency.

It was nothing but alarming to read in a non-Labour newspaper recently that almost two thirds of those surveyed by another English language paper seriously believe that corruption is rife.

Government's dilemma is not whether this spectre happens to be haunting it or not. The dilemma is whether time can heal this problem or whether this spectre will continue to haunt it till election day - irrespective of when elections are held - particularly if other cans of worms might, as many are anticipating, end up seeing the light of day!

It is bad enough for diehard Labourites to have such a perception. But it is even more frightening when one realises that such a poll shows that even a substantial number of PN supporters and voters feel that the rot has taken over the country.

Entities like MEPA have, rightly or wrongly, taken on such a bad name that when I occasionally visit MEPA employees in their homes, they only get round to telling me where they happen to work in a hushed and almost apologetic tone - almost as if they were engaged in a covert or semi-legal activity.

Dr Gonzi seems to have fallen in the same trap of his predecessor by almost invariably speaking of his government's zeal and total commitment to combat with every means possible every abuse that might be taking place, rather than admitting boldly that the situation is running badly out of hand.

And yet by the time of writing the OPM has continued to maintain a total silence over such issues as the cash-for-licenses scandal at the Transport Authority (ADT), which has proved to be a glaring embarrassment for the government of the day.

While the Nationalists have almost developed a fetish in the past to try to give the impression that Dr Gonzi is more popular as a politician that Alfred Sant, there has been complete silence since a recent poll revealed that the Maltese public feel that Dr Sant is far more trusted than Dr Gonzi to fight corruption head on and effectively.

While some still tend to predict that it is the 2008 Budget that will set the tone for the election campaign, there are many other issues that will prove to be determining factors come electoral D-Day. Foremost of which is corruption.

Particularly since people - including self-respecting Nationalists - feel that transparency, accountability and efficiency are a sine qua non for all taxpayers regardless of their views or political orientation.

The current state of play within Nationalist ranks can only lead to further growing disaffection among their activists and supporters. This feeling of unease can also be detected among their parliamentarians. Particularly their back-bench 'young Turks'.

God only knows what impact all this will have on real and genuine floating voters!