Our institutions are in crisis

Whichever way one looks at it, this has been a terrible week for Malta. One shudders to think what visitors and people abroad would have made of the news the media were compelled to print and air. More important than their views, of course, are those of the many decent people who live in this country. The integrity of our institutions is under threat.

Last Monday we saw Parliament being used and abused to settle a personal score – not for the first time during the course of this legislature.

All we can hope is that it was the last time this has happened for a long while. That certain individuals have taken this institution and dragged it through the gutter can only harm politics.

These people seem not to care, as long as they see their faces on screen and their names in print. The modern breed of politician coming up in Malta is indeed cause for concern and it really is no wonder that a number of people are turning their backs on the political scene. Not only is it devoid of substance, but every shred of common decency seems to be leaking out.

Hot on the heels of this came the news that a judge had been arrested on suspicion of being bribed by drug dealers. This would be bad enough in any circumstances, but the fact that we are once again seemingly plodding along a road that was indelibly scarred by a judicial scandal a decade ago makes it all the more disturbing.

Innocent until proven guilty applies to everyone, including judges. But for the sake of the judiciary, Mr Justice Raymond Pace should have immediately heeded calls on him to resign from the Prime Minister as well as the Leader of the Opposition - rather than waiting. This is the only way a measure of public faith can be maintained in an institution that has suffered crushing blows in recent years.

That another judge, Lino Farrugia Sacco, has also refused to accept he has acted incorrectly – both in terms of the language he has used, the disdain shown for a direction of the Commission for the Administration of Justice and the ramifications on the judiciary of the International Olympic Committee’s findings – only adds more fuel to the institutional fire that is burning around us.

After all this disruption, one would have thought Malta may have ended the week with a little serenity. However, the Labour Party had either ideas as it inexplicably consented to Franco Debono’s attempt to gatecrash a programme on State television that was supposed to feature a debate between the parties’ two deputy leaders.

Labour may have legitimate gripes over how State television station has developed, but engaging in these kinds of gimmicks is a very shallow and counterproductive way of expressing them. The circus act that unfolded on Friday evening was mistimed, completely inappropriate and a bad sign of things to come if Labour, as expected, wins the election in March.

A grown-up political party looking to run the country should register its protests through civilised means. Voters want to be persuaded with argument rather than being served with farce during which they learn only the wrong things about Labour’s credentials.

This issue does raise another question: given the nature of parties’ approach to the State broadcaster when they are in opposition, what is the future for PBS?

Should both political parties make a commitment to at least embark on fundamental reform? As with certain other issues, Labour has not yet let us know what its position will be.

The country is in need of clarity.