“Proof” seems to have become the latest buzzword in the local political landscape. Endless debates will continue to rage about the proof or lack of it in the Egrant saga and other serious allegations which have led to the present elec-toral campaign.
Without repeating the same arguments which have been bandied about during the first days of the campaign, the present sorry political situation our country presently faces is ample proof, if there ever was the need for further confirmation, that, election after election, our political system is now clearly structurally dysfunctional.
With monotonous regularity, one or the other of the main political parties is elected to government on grand promises and beautiful ideals only to repeatedly let the people down.
We were promised transparency, good governance and accountability, and we were immediately given a government minister and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff setting up secret offshore bank accounts.
The Panama Papers scandal is just the apex of a whole list of good governance faux pas which this government has crashed through in such a regular manner that it is now very difficult to accept the excuse that these were just instances of going through a learning curve of experience.
We were promised a government which respects the environment, and we have seen our natural environment threatened and battered on a scale which surpasses the serious issues we had under previous administrations.
The Panama Papers debacle is probably the deepest we have ever ventured into the pits of unethical governance
We were promised meritocracy, and we see government agencies and newly formed quangos filled with red-eyed boys and girls, replacing their blue-eyed predecessors. The fact that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has defended and protected his two Castille cronies and has encouraged such a culture of egoism leaves one flabbergasted.
The tragedy of this situation is that we have gone through all this before, though the Panama Papers debacle is probably the deepest we have ever ventured into the pits of unethical governance. Government after government repeats the same structural mistakes time and again, leading to corruption allegations, lack of good governance, lip service to the natural environment sacrificed on the altar of the construction lobby and a jobs for the boys culture.
In effect, it is no coincidence that our country has very weak State structures instead of strong and independent ones serving as the bedrock of a thriving democracy.
With the exception of the Office of the Ombudsman and the National Audit Office, which have regularly undertaken their duties without fear or favour irrespective of who is in government, our winner-takes-all political system has meant that the main political parties have kept state institutions on a tight leash.
The role of our political system in creating and sustaining this mess is very clear. The need for a thriving multi-party Parliament which holds the government truly accountable and which creates better policies through truly democratic debate, negotiation and arrival at consensus has become ever more critical as our country crashes from one crisis of good governance to another in varying degrees for different political administrations.
Alternattiva Demokratika’s rallying call to Vote Green, Vote Clean is a strong appeal to voters to reflect on using their vote to start making real effective change to our political system. Our recent political history has thrown up more than enough proof that the two main political parties are sustaining a winner-takes-all system which is structurally programmed for endless repetitions of good governance trouble.
AD in Parliament would be a strong first step in breaking the structural dysfunction of our political system. Voting Green is the choice we all have to truly start cleaning up the system.
arnoldcassola@gmail.com
Arnold Cassola is chairman of Alternattiva Demokratika.