When I read Desmond Zammit Marmarà’s article a couple of weeks ago, I did not know whether to laugh hysterically or cry my eyes out. He seems to think this is the best government we have ever had. And that was before another shocking revelation that another person of trust of the Prime Minister has allegedly been demanding illegitimate payments for the processing of medical visas.

You can only very remotely reach Zammit Marmarà’s conclusion if your standards are subterranean, if indeed you have no standards at all, if you are content with an unprecedented level of corruption at the highest possible levels, with an environment where anything goes, with institutionalised mayhem and dishonesty.

If you aspire to adopt the standards normally found and encountered in democratic countries, then Zammit Marmarà’s assertion is an insult to the intelligence of normal, law-abiding citizens. Writing articles like that in this newspaper does not turn dishonesty into honesty, corruption into good governance, bad into good or unacceptable into acceptable.

The truth is that the antics of this government are a sheer embarrassment to all of us who have worked tirelessly to turn Malta into a sought-after, sophisticated European jurisdiction with a first-class reputation in several sectors. We are appalled at witnessing the steep descent of our standards in public life, which is affecting our everyday life.

Does having the best government ever mean it is acceptable to have a Prime Minister who pretends that having a minister and his chief of staff open companies in blacklisted Panama after taking public office for the purposes of receiving commissions is OK?

Is having the chairman of the FIAU resign, after having handed a report on Konrad Mizzi and Joseph Schembri to the police, which led to the resignation of the commissioner of police normal?

Is having four commissioners of police in three years acceptable or normal? Is it normal to have a minister involved in every single contract that will cost this country hundreds of millions of euros without those contracts being scrutinised by Parliament?

We are appalled at witnessing the steep descent of our standards in public life, which is affecting our everyday life

Is having a Prime Minister who is hell-bent on allowing the construction of a power station we do not need fuelled by an LNG carrier moored in the middle of Marsaxlokk without letting us know the outcome of the maritime impact assessment acceptable?

Is having a Prime Minister boast that it took him 10 minutes to persuade a property developer to take over virgin land at Żonqor Point plus Dock 1 for a rent less than what Transport Malta is paying the General Workers’ Union for occupying premises in front of the Addolorata Cemetery normal or acceptable?

Is having a Prime Minister who parades on the media that the “Chicago University” will open an “American University of Malta”, when not only was it never going to be a university but there is absolutely nothing American about property developer Sadeen, normal or acceptable?

Is having a government that is simply throwing caution to the winds when it comes to the environment acceptable?

Is having a Prime Minister who personally agrees to waive an action against Mr Café Premier for failing in his lease obligations to the government and then gives him a total of €3 million acceptable? Is having a government which allows the Gaffarena land deal to happen at all acceptable?

Is having the Director of Land resigning after the goings-on of Australia Hall, Café Premier and Gaffarena normal? Is having a government-organised attack on the independent media acceptable?

The above does not make for the best government ever. There is a substantial proportion of the population which is honest and law-abiding and which gave sweet-talking Joseph Muscat a chance and is now rapidly realising that it has been totally hoodwinked. So where to from here?

Thankfully, everyone can look in the other direction, where they will see a Nationalist Party that has reinvented itself in an incredibly short period of time and which has left no stone unturned, thanks to the tireless efforts of Simon Busuttil. He had the guts, vision and love for his country to pick up the pieces of a party at its lowest ebb and reorganise it in every possible sense – financially, administratively and structurally – by mobilising its MPs, by creating policy, by preparing to govern.

Busuttil is the man with vision, the man who was instrumental in getting us into the European Union, the man of whom we can all be so proud and who will not make us wish to crawl under a rock with sheer embarrassment. The man who truly has the national interest at heart.

So, in the midst of this unbridled institutionalised corruption that has pulled our country down to unprecedented depths, thank God all is not lost, and normal, law-abiding citizens have Busuttil – the solid light at the end of the tunnel, an honest and clean politician, the safe pair of hands – to ensure that we get out of the mess we are in and really give this country the best government ever.

Ann Fenech is president of the executive committee of the Nationalist Party.