On two consecutive days over the last weekend, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told his followers that “what was not done in the last 25 years of the previous administration happened in less than 12 months under Labour”. My first reaction was that never truer words were spoken by a local politician, red or blue.
Instantly and mentally, I started listing Muscat’s firsts over the past 12 months but their sheer number was so overwhelming that, instead of keeping them all scattered in my mind, I decided to jot down only some of them, in no particular chrono-logical order and not according to any repercussions they might have had.
Here goes:
On Muscat’s assumption of power, he decided to preside over a Cabinet of 23 members, the biggest in the whole of our political history. (And to imagine that the other week, Matteo Renzi formed an Italian government for 60 million people with only 16 Cabinet ministers!)
The last 12 months were ample proof that this decision by Muscat produced a number of underperforming ministers, others not up to scratch and only a handful of decent performers. Not to mention the cases of Cabinet members who openly disregarded the code of ethics and, for a time, continued with their private practice… unheard of in the preceding 25 years.
In one fell swoop, barely 24 hours after taking office, Muscat did what no other prime minister did before him with regard to the head of civil service.
He replaced the incumbent with a home-grown Labour personality who himself had declared in interviews that he used to frequent Labour headquarters on a daily basis.
This was a fitting prelude to what Muscat had planned for our law and order institutions: the police and the armed forces. In 25 years of Nationalist government, police and AFM heads were never tampered with and, when a change in headship was required, only professional and highly-trained officers were considered and eventually chosen.
In this case, a police commissioner was transferred elsewhere in the public service to be replaced by a person outside the police force but quite active within the Labour Party.
As for the head of the armed forces, the best brigadier that our country had since the AFM was founded by George Borg Olivier in 1970, was sidelined so that a replacement, overstepping a substantial number of officers and given three promotions in as many weeks, would take his place to the frustration of a considerable number of army officers who feel they have all been cheated.
There were other firsts, obviously never seen in the preceding 25 years, with regard to foreigners’ perception of our country.
It was the first time that a Maltese government hinted at, and even laid the ground for, a push-back to Libya of irregular migrants less than 24 hours after they landed on our shores.
Muscat’s intentions were thwarted by a ruling of the European Court and by a barrage of widespread condemnation by an irate international media.
The style over substance dichotomy will finally devour the politician who indulges in such an ephemeral game
This chorus of condemnation was, however, nothing compared to the horrendous flak our country took as a result of the so-called Individual Investor Programme about which, writing in Times of Malta on March 10, Lino Spiteri said: “It is incredible that no one seems to have convinced the Prime Minister that the Individual Investment Programme as initially drawn up and announced on the advice of the hired agents was botched from the very word ‘go’. In particular, it is unbelievable that it was permed on a secrecy clause whereby those granted citizenship under the scheme retained anonymity.”
That ill-conceived act of opportunism succeeded to unite all the world’s media for the first time against tiny Malta as opposed to what used to happen in the preceding 25 years.
Two significant instances when the world media heaped lavish favourable comments on our country were the historic summit between George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev in December 1989 and Lawrence Gonzi’s impeccable handling of the Libyan crisis where Malta was hailed for acting as a catalyst in the repatriation of thousands of foreign workers from Libya; not to mention Malta’s accession to the EU.
Another of Muscat’s firsts: he was the first prime minister of this country to let hundreds of people off the hook after they contrived with a handful of Enemalta employees to deceitfully have their smart meters tampered with to gain a hefty discount in their electricity bills.
In the previous 25 years, any person who was caught committing any act of corruption was made a subject of police investigation and eventually had to face justice meted out by our courts.
Cases pertaining to the abusive issue of boat and vehicle licences, VAT fraud and other various instances prosecuted during Nationalist administrations stand tall when compared to Muscat’s first in this case.
Justice, in its various facets, was also another important area where this Labour government scooped its predecessors of the last 25 years.
First, top Cabinet members visiting Corradino Corrective Facility announce a pardon to prisoners chanting Tagħna Lkoll and, then, ensuring that the motion for the impeachment of a judge be put on the back-burner and definitely not acted upon before August, by which time the said judge will reach retirement age.
To be fair to Muscat, his stand on this particular case was not a first. Actually, he was treading along the same path of his Labour predecessors who constantly put up all imaginable obstacles when members of the judiciary were about to be censured in Parliament. Labour speaks about putting justice on a sound footing but its actions go dramatically against this laudable political slogan.
Muscat will also be the first to place a tanker with gas storage facilities related to the gas-fired power station inside the Marsaxlokk port. He is riding roughshod over the residents of Marsaxlokk and Birżebbuġa who openly expressed their deep preoccupation and 91 per cent of them indicated that they wanted gas storage facilities out at sea.
Ignoring even the advice of an expert with 42 years experience in this field, the Prime Minister is ready to throw out of the window even the least mention of ‘disastrous’ consequences for the whole of Malta but, particularly, Marsaxlokk and Birżebbuġa residents, if there is even a small leak from the liquefied naturalgas storage facility. This is a gamble which no other prime minister was ever ready to bet on.
There are many other Muscat’s firsts. Such as the placing of a tent in front of our main hospital; choosing a person closely linked to deposed Ukrainian dictator Viktor Yanukovych as his official adviser; the hiring of his own car for government use… and so many others. Everyone is free to add his favourite ‘first’ to this list.
But, to be honest, there was another first by Muscat in the last 12 months.
He sneaked out of the country for two days to watch his favourite team play while leaving behind an unattended House Privileges Committee that was summoned upon his request to try the leader of the Opposition in front of a ‘kangaroo court’, the conclusion of which we all know: gagging Simon Busuttil or, even worse, potentially imprisoning him.
Well done! After all those ‘firsts’, Muscat was justifiably entitled to a day ‘off’ or two.
One final thought after 12 months. The style over substance dichotomy will finally devour the politician who indulges in such an ephemeral game.
Kristy Debono is a Nationalist MP.