I am quite sure that the words “transparency”, “good governance,” and “accountability” ring several bells to most of us. We certainly heard them referred to often enough by the Prime Minister when still the leader of the opposition prior to the last general election. That is what he was promising the electorate if elected.

Given the modus operandi of the present government, our Prime Minister must possess an unusual edition of the Oxford dictionary.

The antics of his government so far have been anything but transparent, accountable or exemplary of good governance. In fact they have been the complete opposite.

Among the prime examples are the Ombudsman needing the court to confirm his own jurisdiction, a minister building a villa without a permit, the government paying off Cafe Premier tenants to the tune of millions of euros instead of suing them for what they owe while paying a mysterious commission to a third party, the secrecy shrouding our energy contracts. These are only a few.

This was either a case of crass incompetence or concealment, of keeping the truth away from the public, from Parliament even

Government would have us believe that the “published” contract with Shanghai Electric is the actual contract! If that were the case I would sack the drafters on the spot because they have left us – the Maltese nation –totally exposed. This was either a case of crass incompetence or concealment, of keeping the truth away from the public, from Parliament even. How can Parliament scrutinise the actions of government if it is not privy to them?

The repeated failure of the Prime Minister to live up to his word this week took a different turn. While in the wake of the Swiss Leaks debacle he announced from the pulpit that he would hunt down tax evaders, and not only those with stashes of undeclared funds at HSBC Geneva but everywhere, I am rather bewildered by the fact that he has had two years to do just that but does not seem to have done anything about it.

While the man in the street is taken to task by the authorities for accumulating funds but being economical with the truth when it comes to tax declarations, perhaps the Prime Minister would care to tell us what he has done about those ministers of state who have made rather interesting income declarations to Parliament which do not seem to add up.

One of them even has repayments on his loans that alone exceed his income by several thousands.

So, while the Prime Minister publicly states that he will hunt down tax evaders, he has done nothing about his own people in the meantime. It is glaringly obvious that he thinks it is fine to talk one way and do something else.

Well, it is not fine at all. While it is true that people get the government they deserve, Malta as a nation deserves to have a prime minister who does not talk just for the sake of it but who honestly means what he says and does what he says.

The leader of the Opposition, on the other hand, has not only made it immediately known that it is unacceptable for people in public office to be the beneficiaries of undeclared investments, but he actioned his words immediately.

The difference between one and the other is rather obvious to me.

The Prime Minister is under the impression that it is acceptable to spend time, quite a lot of it actually, doing a great deal of what I call “empty talking” without acting. Meanwhile, the Leader of the Opposition walks the talk.

And this is what it is really going to boil down to in due course: Does this country really want to be governed by a good talker who walks away from his talk and does the very opposite?

Or does it wish to move forward by having a person in charge who takes action on his declarations?

Our nation needs real leadership and real statesmanship. A primus interpares who does the opposite of what he says is, apart from being a huge let down, tantamount to being politically dishonest.

This country is in dire need of good, honest and straight talking which turns into action for the good of the people instead of turning out to be mere empty words.

The latter is the realm of Joseph Muscat and the former is the domain of Simon Busuttil.

Ann Fenech is president of the Nationalist Party’s executive committee