Now that the marathon debate on the motion of no confidence in the government moved by the leader of the Opposition is over, I think now is probably an opportune time for reflection.

If one were to ask me what has been my greatest disappointment with the current government, I could do no better than quote from the assessment recently made by Mario de Marco in a Talking Point:

“Muscat had a golden opportunity to change the way politics is played in Malta. The nine-seat majority gave him a unique platform to do away with some of the remaining shackles that bind us to a political reality of the past. He could have done away with the system of vote-trading. He could have introduced meritocracy across all levels of government. He could have implemented a zero-tolerance to corruption. He could have governed in the true interest of all, irrespective of their political creed.”

This is exactly what crossed my mind when Muscat swept to power at a relatively young age with the biggest majority in Maltese parliamentary history. To quote a phrase that was used by sports journalists in days gone by - he was monarch of all he surveyed. Unlike many prime ministers before him, he had the golden chance to radically change Malta to a degree that was unthinkable up to a few years ago.

I would not change my position if the audit doesn’t find any evidence of financial transactions

To be fair and objective, few can deny that government has undoubtedly achieved success on several fronts. The reduction of water and electricity tariffs provided relief for those that are most in need and was also a welcome boost for business. The introduction of free childcare has enabled many women to join the labour market. The economy is growing at an extraordinary rate with the number of employed reaching the highest ever level while unemployment is practically non-existent.

Measures have been taken to provide the disabled with more job opportunities. The worrying rise in the number of citizens at risk of poverty has been halted and is now in decline. These and other positive initiatives are indeed feathers in the PrimeMinister’s cap.

All the above makes it very difficult for me (and I should say for many thousands more) to understand why the Prime Minister has allowed an otherwise positive performance to be completely overshadowed by repeated failures in areas of good governance. Why?

I have always been of the opinion that besides the legality or otherwise of a minister’s action, there is also what can be called the right and correct way of doing things. I think that the current impasse is hardly going to be unravelled by an auditor certifying whether any funds did in fact pass through Konrad Mizzi’s New Zealand trust or his company in Panama.

That, to me, is not the crux of the matter. I would not change my position if the audit doesn’t find any evidence of financial transactions. The fact that an offshore trust fund and a “secret company” were, by the minister’s own admission, established in faraway New Zealand and in dodgy Panama is enough to warrant his resignation.

One does not need to be a rocket scientist to deduce that trust funds and letter box companies in tax havens are, more often than not, established to hide something from somebody whether it is the tax authorities, a spouse or whoever.

I believe that it is totally unacceptable for ministers to hide matters from the people who placed their trust them.

Transparency is key. Prolonging this issue unduly is doing no good to anyone and, much more importantly, to our country. To quote MP Marlene Farrugia, many of those who supported Labour in the last election dreamt of a united, meritocratic nation built on sound democratic pillars. They feel dejected.

Turning to the Opposition and with all due respect to Simon Busutill, I think that he perhaps went over the top to demand that this government terminates its mandate at this juncture. I much prefer Farrugia’s approach, demanding the immediate resignation of Konrad Mizzi andKeith Schembri.

This government was elected with a significant majority to govern the country for five years. When its term is up, the electorate shall make its assessment and decide whether they wish to reconfirm this administration or not.

As someone who was very critical of the way political parties were funded in the past, I cannot but question the wisdom of the loan scheme recently launched by the Nationalist Party.

It seems to be a deliberate way of circumventing the spirit of the law that aimed to place the identity of substantial donations in the public domain. This is another example, if any more were needed, of what could well be legal but is nonetheless not correct.

The present situation will, I hope, be resolved with the resignation or removal of Mizzi and Schembri in the near future. Has the time come to establish a code of ethics for all members of Parliament to avoid a repetition of what the country has had to endure over the past two months? Malta can ill afford anything like this ever happening again.

Tony Zammit Cutajar is a retired businessman.