With a 36,000 majority in the 2013 election, the Labour Party was perfectly poised to implement a quality leap in local politics. Yet, Joseph Muscat’s government did nothing of the sort.
The promise of meritocracy was first to go, with the numerous government appointments to positions of trust. Accountability and transparency followed closely. Slowly, but surely, the optimism of the election run-up faded away and a new reality set in.
Incredibly, the series of administrative blunders, scandals and allegations of corruption appear to leave the Prime Minister unruffled. He just trudges on, as if oblivious to it all. On Sundays, he uses his own party radio station for his weekly partisan sermon and then disappears for most of the rest of the week.
When he does make a public appearance, he is often faced with media questions on everything under the sun. His answers are often elusive, or dismissive. It is just water off a duck’s back. He walks back to his car and drives off smiling, or smirking.
Word on the street is that Labour is heading for another electoral victory. Nothing appears to have dented the Prime Minister’s standing, not even the Panama scandal. He still appears immensely popular despite serious government failings.
There are many issues this government, which promised transparency, dismally fails to explain or reply to. These include numerous multi-million euro contracts it signed and which will affect the country for years to come. Everything remains under wraps, as if the government is some private enterprise run by a few for profit. There is now a promise to have contracts published by the year’s end. So people wait, not knowing why.
Slippery as an eel, Dr Muscat has the uncanny ability of turning things on their head and in his favour. He slipped out of the fish farms pollution controversy by distancing himself from a Planning Authority decision, even when the regulator forms part of his portfolio. He has also kept himself out of the high-rise controversy, even though his fascination with Dubai skyscrapers is no secret.
The Prime Minister has thrown all political ideology to the wind. He speaks of a ‘new middle class’, a term that makes no sense. His pro-business policies have provoked former Labour Party general secretary Jason Micallef to remark that the country appeared to be run by six big families. Ironically, many people complain of capitalist greed under his ‘socialist’ government.
The electorate clamoured for change in 2013. Dr Muscat’s populist appeal shows that he is a man with his hand on the people’s pulse. His policies reflect popular sentiment, even when it is wrong.
The amnesty on illegal buildings was the latest initiative to curry favour, as was the decision to supply the illegal, shanty town in Armier with electricity. It runs flat in the face of his environmental promises but few seem to care, though to what extent will likely be gauged in two years’ time.
Nothing appears to perturb Dr Muscat. The change he promised has not happened but he knows the economy is clearly in his favour.
For various reasons, under the previous administration voters felt shackled by rules and regulations and the government led by Lawrence Gonzi was faltering. The people found a sympathetic ear in Dr Muscat and saw bright prospects, given his ‘rosy’ promises. He now gives them what they want, they keep him power and the country pays the price.
But the chickens will come home to roost. Some already are.