As Malta has yet to recover from the bad press it has been receiving abroad for the government’s ill-conceived cash-for-passport scheme, the island has now been dealt two other blows. They come in the shape of two unfavourable assessments, one on healthcare and the other on corruption.
Both deserve national attention, but the one on corruption rubs further salt into the wound and comes at a time when an oil procurement scandal of the first order keeps unravelling in a way that has shocked the island.
According to a corruption perception index by Transparency International, Malta has slipped two places this year. It now stands in 45th place from 177 countries.
Just ahead of Malta is Slovenia. Hungary is in 47th place and Rwanda, in 49th place. The problem – and a major worry – for Malta is that this is not just a one-off slip. Five years ago, it ranked in the 36th place.
Even more frustrating perhaps is that Malta is now perceived as being more corrupt than most EU member states. This is most uncomplimentary, a matter that ought to occupy the minds of the political leaders to see what can be done to start reversing the trend.
Perception is not built on thin air, and indeed the country has been experiencing cases of outright corruption that have scandalised the nation to the bone.
Who would have thought up to some years ago that even the island’s justice system would be tainted by corruption?
In Malta’s case, a chief justice was involved, no less, and another judge was found guilty of accepting money for reducing a drug trafficker’s sentence.
Few can perhaps forget the anger justifiably displayed by the then prime minister, Eddie Fenech Adami, when he spoke of the scandal publicly on television. His disgust was shared by the country at large, and yet a few years later another judge was accused of bribery.
It will take years now before the courts will win back the esteem they enjoyed in times past. Greater scrutiny of candidates for judicial posts could help, but it is work aimed at promoting a culture of clean, correct behaviour that is likely to produce the best results.
A glance at Transparency International’s index shows that corruption remains a problem in countries throughout the world.
In the words of the organisation, the index offers a warning that abuse of power, secret dealings and bribery continue to ravage societies around the world. Corruption within the public sector is seen as one of the biggest challenges today and it is mostly widespread in political parties, the police, and justice systems.
The fact that Malta has the inbuilt institutional infrastructure that can detect corruption and bring the culprits to justice shows that the country is alert to the problem and there is a national will to fight it.
As the chairman of the NGO, Huguette Labelle, said, all countries face the threat of corruption at all levels of government, whether in the issuing of local permits or the enforcement of law and regulations.
The bribery cases at the law courts and the oil procurement scandal will not go away easily, but there are other misdemeanours that gnaw at the nation’s moral fibre. Which is why transparency and accountability assume so much importance, not just in the public sector but elsewhere as well.