Everybody seems to be clamouring for our very own version of the Italian Mani pulite sweep. The time when we wash clean the country, wrongs are righted, prosecutions get going and we start anew – a shining beacon of hope and good governance. Shouldn’t we clean up our act too? Most definitely.

In the process, we should take steps to prevent the probability of institutional collapse happening – under one administration or another. The first thing we have to do is  to ‘party-proof’ our laws and institutions. Our legal and institutional set-up is a ‘winner take all’ system where the party in government gets to make all the appointments that matter. From the Commissioner of Police to judges to appointees on regulatory authorities, it’s the government of the day who decides who is appointed.

Many appointees carry out their roles admirably but there’s always the temptation for their first loyalties to be towards their creator. As the saying goes, “You got to dance with them what brung you.”

It’s the nuts and bolts of democracy we need to work on

We’ve got to change this so that the government of the day does not retain carte blanche to appoint useful and protective stooges. This holds true for both Labour and PN governments, otherwise we’re to find ourselves in exactly the same predicament every time a politician from the governing party relies on the inaction of a government appointee to shirk his responsibilities to the nation. Legislative reform is a deeply unexciting subject and there’s no way it’s going to impart the instant feel-good buzz of a Facebook meme denigrating a politician or another, but it’s the nuts and bolts of democracy we need to work on.

■ I know we are being told that this election is solely about the battle between Good and Evil and that the proposals being made are simply fillers between the killer bouts, but I can’t help reading and analysing the proposals themselves. That’s because they will be the proposals which will be implemented when whoever triumphs.

As usual, I am alarmed by some of them – the usual pre-electoral largesse and unsustainable measures. The motor-racing track project proposed at Ta’ Qali by the Labour Party is one which will take up green area and effectively turn it into yet another commercialised roundabout. Obviously, this is a long-time promise to a vociferous lobby, but if we are going to continue doling out public land for small interest groups there is going to be none left for the free and healthy benefit of the general public.

Another ill-thought out proposal is that of free childcare for all parents – whether they work or not. I’m dismayed at this proposal for several reasons but mainly because it automatically assumes that all parental care is automatically inferior to the care given at these care centres. I can’t make out what this proposal is trying to achieve.

One woman was filmed saying it was a revolutionary measure because it would allow women to go to the hairdresser in peace or to attend school reunions without a toddler in tow or to swing by to the bank in childless bliss. Well, I knew we have been turning into a superficial society, but expecting the State to fund carefree visits to the hairdresser is a bit much.

Others are insisting that such a measure would be beneficial to children from socially and economically challenged backgrounds because they would get a better start to life in a childcare environment. Or that it would help parents going through difficult circumstances such as illnesses. If that is the case, shouldn’t we have a scheme which caters for these possibilities instead of an expensive one which is prone to abuse by individuals who simply want to farm out their children?

Also, shouldn’t we realistically assess our childcare facilities, expertise and personnel to see if they are child dumping grounds or the centres of excellence which we are promised? And shouldn’t we ask the people on the ground – teachers, carers, sports masters, volunteers about their experiences with children and see how they are coping with these added responsibilities?

Most importantly, why are we doing away with parental involvement and automatically assuming that mass commercialised childcare is always better than individual loving parental care?

Finally, shouldn’t parents delight and value in spending some time with their children before the obligatory schooling years?

drcbonello@gmail.com