Carmel Caccopardo from Alternattiva Demokratika has challenged me to say what I think about last week’s storm. Not the one that took away the Azure Window, but the other one that laid bare the 50 years of a rotten political system.

In all fairness I believe I owe not just Mr Caccopardo, but all Maltese, an honest and uninhibited explanation.

For me this is not difficult at all because I only have my conscience to consult and no one else, and since I am not interested in building any sort of career or empire, I do not need to tread softly to avoid upseting sensitive alliances.

First and foremost, Mr Caccopardo, I stand four-square behind Simon Busuttil, because I strongly believe that he is an honest man. He proved himself  when, risking everything, he denounced the scandalous Konrad Mizzi-Silvio Debono ITS deal. I am convinced that Dr Busuttil is the only person who can deliver these islands from the talons of unprecedented corruption on all fronts.

I will not dwell too long on my opinion of  what remains of the Labour Party. I consider it, alas, a pitiable perversion beyond redemption. What started as a conspiracy for an internal coup by a few determined newcomers to get rich quick, whose loyalty extends only to themselves, has  spread unchecked like a destructive virus, poision­ing the party at all levels beyond recognition, reducing it to a spineless and numb cripple unable to react.

I entered politics on the ticket that my only flag is the Maltese flag and that my leader is my conscience. The Debono scandal has opened a very unpleasant can of voracious worms that have long been disemboweling our political class, and added fuel to an already raging fire that has been consuming its tattered credibility.

This government is so dangerous because it divides and rules and feeds on the basest instincts and on human weaknesses

I have no intention of resigning my candidacy for the Nationalist Party,  because I consider it the best way to serve my country in this hour of great peril to democracy. But I owe it to myself, first and foremost, to voice my opposition to what I consider to be contrary to my beliefs and harmful to a party that must win the coming election, to save Malta from further ruin.

Here and now I solemnly  declare that I cannot accept the notion that party officials and candidates happily serve God and the devil at the same time for their personal profit,  while party supporters are suffering for their political beliefs, and people are donating money to help a party in financial difficulties.

These people are mostly lawyers, who should understand more than I do the meaning of  ‘conflict of interest’, even if they seem to have a very distorted idea of the words loyalty, honesty and credibility.

Therefore Mr Caccopardo, yes I believe that all those who sell passports, expect to build their villas on ODZ land and help profiteers grab public land for peanuts, even if all this is legal, can never be my friends, nor can I see them as friends of a country they are helping to rape, or of a party that has been justly opposing this outrage all the way.

I do not think that I am alone in expecting them to have the decency to hand in their resignations to Dr Busuttil together with a letter of apology  to the party members they have let down. Honestly, I have not the slightest doubt that they are as rotten and untrustworthy as this odious government, which has given them the unsavoury opportunity to get fat ‘legally but definitely not ethically’ on the backs of us honest citizens.

I hold them personally responsible for an eventual return to power of this corrupt regime, as much as I shall hold respon­sible all others, who for the sake of prejudices, grudges and petty vanity, give in any way, any sort of advantage to a corrupt government. Such people know very well that the re-election of this government will result in untold harm for Malta for a very long time, including the likes of you, Mr Caccopardo.

This is why this government is so dangerous, because it divides and rules and feeds on the basest instincts and on human weaknesses,  like a true demon, cajoling into perversion even its staunchest adversaries.

To the shameless collaborators I shall finally quote Abraham Lincoln: “A house divided cannot stand”. To the rest I shall paraphrase Horatio Nelson: “Malta expects every citizen to do his and her duty”.

Salvu Mallia is a Nationalist Party candidate.