Taking off his hat as purveyor of ‘university’ accreditations à la Żonqor, Martin Scicluna has donned his sanctimonious hat (July 6) to lecture Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil, about ‘half-baked policymaking’ in good governance.
At least, Scicluna – who instructed voters to vote for Joseph Muscat before the last general election – had to admit that Muscat did far worse than half-baked policies: Muscat lied through his teeth and hoodwinked Scicluna himself. The sheer corruption in so many scandals since Muscat gained power cannot but be admitted, even by Scicluna.
As he nitpicked the universally well-received document launched by Busuttil aimed at ‘Restoring Trust in Politics’, Scicluna wrote about Muscat’s government “found severely wanting”, its “standing falling precipitously” because of “the corruption that has engulfed the government”, the “patronage and plunder which Muscat has committed”, and “the stench of corruption in the air”.
Coming from Scicluna, these are very serious indictments indeed of a Prime Minister whose administration was corrupt even before it saw the light of day, going by the way Muscat’s closest associates started opening secret companies and accounts in Panama days after he took his oath of office in order to deposit the ‘millions’ they mentioned in the infamous emails describing what they were going to ‘earn’ while in government.
Turning to Busuttil, Scicluna uses the well-worn argument of all establishment apologists: not enough.
We have a Prime Minister who makes a doormat of an institution such as the body Martin Scicluna himself heads
Now, we have never had an Opposition leader who published detailed documents mid-term rather than keep all his proposals as a surprise to be ‘debated’ in the heat of a Maltese electoral campaign, as Muscat did before the last general elections, taking in Scicluna himself.
Busuttil has triggered a discussion early enough to ensure a fair debate and amend where necessary after proper consultation, as the documents published by the Nationalist Party clearly state.
Scicluna says he read the PN good governance document ‘Restoring Trust in Politics’ and then suggests that Busuttil should propose constitutional amendments for greater controls on the executive; effective steps to counter corruption and maintain public ethical standards; proper scrutiny by Parliament of all senior public appointments; and a more potent Freedom of Information Act. Well, these proposals are all there, in the document. Not just that, but the Opposition has presented draft laws in Parliament precisely to implement these proposals and Busuttil has been insisting, for example, that Muscat’s nominee for the governorship of the Central Bank – be it Alfred Mifsud mired in corruption allegations or Marxist ideologue Mario Vella – should go through a hearing in Parliament.
But Scicluna is not convinced. He even says that Busuttil did not publish an up-to-date code of ethics spelling out the standard expected of ministers and MPs. But ‘Restoring Trust in Politics’ clearly explains the standards that Busuttil is promising, not just for his MPs, but for civil servants too. And Busuttil has taken strong decisions in several cases. Still, Scicluna is not persuaded.
He applies his ‘not enough’ apologist’s tool even to Busuttil’s principle that ODZ should be ODZ and that, if a national project needs to be built on ODZ land, then this would require a two-thirds majority in Parliament.
By way of example, in a Busuttil government, some Jordanian land speculator wanting to develop Żonqor ODZ land would need to convince both government and the Opposition that he needs virgin land and open sea views, and not just have a five-minute meeting with the Prime Minister and immediately convince him, as Jordanian land speculator Sadeen boasted he did with Muscat.
This is the only way we can avoid government ramming down people’s and institutions’ throats that this is some kind of ‘university’, ‘American’ at that, rather than what it obviously is: a land speculator meeting the Prime Minister and getting a vast tract of land on the cheap precisely because it is ODZ. And this is how we can avoid the whiff of corruption or, as Scicluna himself aptly puts it, this government’s “stench of corruption in the air”.
The PN is the only Opposition in almost three decades to lodge concrete ideas and proposals on how to bring about a cleaner Malta with a political class that works for the Maltese people, not the other way round as is happening right now.
There are several other policy documents published by the PN laying out new ideas on topics which are of concern for Maltese families and businesses: corruption and good governance, yes, but also traffic including our infrastructure and the economy, how we can have better wages and spending power.
All these documents are being discussed with those who genuinely want to chart a new way forward. The Opposition has also translated many of its proposals on healthy lifestyles, for example, into laws that which reach practical and important goals.
In good governance, Busuttil wants a system of strong checks and balances because “absolute power corrupts absolutely”. In Malta, unfortunately, we have a system that still doesn’t check the Prime Minister’s power and we have to rely on the character and integrity of whoever happens to occupy Castille at the time, rather than a strong set of institutions.
The result of this is all before us, in “the stench of corruption” reeking out of Muscat’s government.
Scicluna too asks for “greater controls on the executive” of which many can be found in the Nationalist Party’s ‘Restoring Trust in Politics’ document.
Yet the way a Jordanian land speculator has been granted a university accreditation is a textbook case of the corruption of unchecked power and lapdog institutions. In this case, Muscat decided it was a ‘university’ that was going to be built on ODZ land needing open sea views.
The government even lowered educational standards through a legal notice so that a college that could not previously be called a university now has accreditation as such. Instead of strong institutions controlling government, we have a Prime Minister who makes a doormat of an institution such as the body Martin Scicluna himself heads.