About nine years ago, those who tampered with electricity meters and maybe for years had been using the service for free, were pardoned by just calling Enemalta, getting a digital meter installed and paying a meagre Lm100.

This story repeated itself recently over the abuse of the electricity supply and the scam on smart meters.

I repeat what I believed nine years ago: Whenever the government of the day is unable to control a common abuse the easy way out is to absolve the abusers and start afresh.

Instead of curbing the abuse and punishing those who abused the service, the government – impotent against the rampant abuse – gives notice and a date when all those who abused could be forgiven and start a new leaf.

Past governments rewarded manypeople who offended, broke the law and abused by giving them amnesties and sanctioning illegalities to the detriment of law-abiding citizens.

There have been taxation concessions under various governments; amnesties for those who accumulated huge funds abroad to avoid taxes; amnesties for not paying VAT; the blessing for the illegally-built shanty towns at Armier and elsewhere; and amnesties for criminals.

Surely, the honest people who have always paid their dues to Caesar, and who have always wanted to live in peace withthemselves without any blemish on their conscience, faced with all this injustice are not given a good example and encouraged to abide by the law.

Now, the latest planning authority’s proposal to grant an amnesty to sanction long-standing illegal developments – should it be implemented – will confirm the government’s impotency to enforce the law and fight our institutionalised corruption and law-breaking.