It is saddening to see Malta in the grips of corruption crises and constant scandals that have damaged our country’s hard-earned international standing just months before Malta assumes the EU presidency.

Likewise, it is maddening to see the depths to which this Labour administration is willing to sink to attempt to divert attention from the sleaze engulfing it.

The Prime Minister’s right-hand man, his Energy and Health Minister, Konrad Mizzi, and the Prime Minister’s left-hand man, his chief of staff, Keith Schembri, have been exposed as having financial set-ups in Panama. This has now been confirmed beyond any doubt.

The Panama Papers prove that some of the world’s most notorious dictators, criminals, money launderers and tax evaders have all set up shop in secretive Panama. The list also uncovers a number of politicians from across the globe.

The only sitting minister from an EU member State to be exposed is Malta’s own Mizzi.

It confirmed our fears. No one was pleased to have been proved right. We would much rather that the people running the country were, in fact, the upstanding people they claimed to be just over three years ago, when they hoodwinked a trusting electorate who wanted change for the better.

Change did arrive, just not for the better. We are now stuck with a number of individuals who think it is acceptable to travel unaccompanied to countries like Azerbaijan and conclude fuel hedging agreements worth millions of euros without ever showing the contract to the public.

The Panama Papers also exposed the fact that both Mizzi and Schembri reportedly also wanted to open bank accounts in Dubai linked to their offshore operations. They were not allowed because the banks stopped them. Although they were prevented from opening the accounts, their intent was abundantly clear.

Mizzi’s declared assets are public. For 2014, he has listed an apartment in Malta, a property in the UK, shares worth some €17,000, a salary of €76,000 and €310,279 in the bank. He declared debts of €329,816.

The concept of common good has been replaced by personal interests

There is no reason that could be believed by even the greatest stretch of the imagination why anyone with such assets and in his political position would choose to open a company in Panama, a trust in New Zealand and attempt to open an account in Dubai. The expenses involved in setting up this money-channelling structure would alone be prohibitive and totally out of proportion.

This is Malta’s current tragedy. The concept of the common good has been replaced by personal interests, while the most divisive Prime Minister we have ever known was elected on a platform promising the opposite. In a few short years, his administration has been overcome by corruption, tribalism and hysterical paranoia.

Mizzi and Schembri have refused to resign. For reasons we could only guess, the Prime Minister backed them to the hilt and has refused to sack them.

During the Swissleaks scandal, Joseph Muscat promised to sack anyone in his party with an account in Switzerland, promising to scour the world for any foreign bank accounts held by politically exposed Maltese persons.

As we have all realised, it is his talk which is cheap.

The longer the two remain in their position, the more Malta’s reputation will suffer. They will do their best to hang on by their fingernails, implementing their scorched-earth style of politics. With everything to lose, they will do whatever they can to keep things just the way they are. Should that occur, the damage would become irreversible.

With Simon Busuttil and the Nationalist Party, we have stuck our necks out to push forward a platform of honest and clean politics and, tomorrow afternoon, the nation is being asked to answer Malta’s call again at a national demonstration against corruption in Valletta. Our stand is more than just a rallying cry that people across the political divide are identifying with: it is the only sustainable way forward for our country.

The mantle is not ours alone. There are a number of individuals in the Labour Party and in Labour’s parliamentary group who entered politics for the right reasons.

Their duty and responsibility to stand up for Malta and, indeed, for their party is now greater than ever.

They do have partisan interests, but it is time for them to decide. Is this Labour Party still what they aspired to, or has it been taken over as a vehicle for personal and business interests?

As history unfolds, in the present tense, it is actions today which determine how we shall be seen to posterity.

Now is the time when a few good men and women need to stand up to be counted.

Will they?

Roberta Metsola is a Nationalist MEP.