In the very first speech of the 2013 electoral campaign, on January 7 of that year, Joseph Muscat fired his parting shot: “Malta belongs to us all. This is the rallying call which will be uniting us. Uniting the Maltese and Gozitan people. Uniting all those who are willing to change the direction of our nation on March 9. Our message is very simple... you may disagree with us but you can work with us.”

Everybody, I’m sure, will agree, that this slogan was Labour’s main electoral plank.

To make double sure, I went through a book that was published by the Labour Party and called Sebaħ Jum Ġdid (The Rise of a New Dawn) containing photographs of all the activities of its electoral campaign and excerpts from Muscat’s speeches during the campaign.

I took note of the scores of times Muscat referred to his major commitment of Malta Tagħna Lkoll. This underlines the fact that this was not a ‘fortunate’ phrase thrown to the public haphazardly. The idea evidently was that it should forcefully penetrate into people’s minds and, yes, capture their imagination.

Hats off to Muscat or whoever coined the Malta Tagħna Lkoll slogan. S/he should be congratulated again for such a political scoop.

But what now?

One can find the answer in an excellent cartoon in the December 28 issue of The Sunday Times of Malta, which depicts Muscat saying: “I will practise meritocracy during...” and the cartoonist crossed out 2013 and again 2014. Then you have 2015, the year we have just started. Is it a case of tomorrow never comes?

What we concretely say is that, during its first two years, Muscat’s governmment simply discarded all the solemn promises it made in its electoral manifesto and throughout the electoral campaign and acted in the very opposite direction.

It started on minute one of day one of Muscat’s reign when he replaced a prudent person of uncontested integrity as head of the civil service with one of his faithful ‘generals’ at his party headquarters. It was a political sacrilege which no other Prime Minister had the gall to force down the throats of thousands of loyal and honest civil servants.

The Labour Party failed miserably to keep its solemn promises

And the debacle followed, one minute after the other, sparing no governmental post in the process.

There are literally hundreds of cases (if not thousands) where the extreme opposite of Muscat’s electoral opportunistic mantra was implemented.

I will not list the instances in which meritocracy was unashamedly shunned and Muscat and his cronies did look, after all, in one’s own ‘face’ and decided according to one’s colour. I am convinced we have sufficient proof that the Labour government failed spectacularly in this main promise to the Maltese electorate.

However, over the past few days, the media commented on the famous (or infamous) positions of trust under which Muscat’s administration tries – without any success – to disguise itself when acting in this way. The Ombudsman himself, in his annual report, threw the spotlight on the vague definition of ‘position of trust’, saying such appointments should be restricted to ensure fairness, non-discrimination and transparency.

I chose to dwell on this particular aspect of the Labour Party’s electoral manifesto because it is, perhaps, its most offending part. Undoubtedly, there are further aspects that should be put under the spotlight when one tries to analyse the situation two years from the launch of the Labour manifesto.

What one is to conclude from the first 22 months of this Administration is that there is a predominant culture of non-accountability, lack of transparency and an apparent readiness to condone inappropriate behaviour. Yet, two years ago, we were promised a steadfast commitment to integrity, accountability and transparency at all levels.

All these, along with meritocracy, were solemnly launched and made the main components of a new dawn for the following five years. Taken to its very logical conclusion, instead, we are rather witnessing a ‘sunset’ the Maltese people never really expected after such fine statements and propostions.

If all this came about as a result of political pressure on Muscat and his government, then, despite appearances, it would be a matter of ‘lack of good leadership and governance’. If, as it is likely, it was a premeditated situation, then it can only be called, ‘malicious’ and ‘political dishonesty’.

In both cases, the Labour Party failed miserably to keep its solemn promises and, in so doing, defied the people’s mandate.

This has been one big illusion, most of us never imagined.

Kristy Debono is the Opposition’s spokesman for financial services, IT and gaming.