I never wanted this election. No sensible person could want this election. In 2013, the Labour Party was given a resounding mandate to modernise the country. Like many, I was not entirely comfortable with having Labour back in government. But I was far less comfortable with having the Nationalist Party continue to rule when it was obvious it had run out of steam and needed some rest and recreation in opposition.

As a Christian Democrat I believed that a change was needed, and I put my misgivings down to my memories of the 1980s. A legitimate Labour government would be good for Malta’s democracy. One-half of the country would finally be able to let the Buskett-sized chip slip off its collective shoulder and feel at par with the other half. No one would be anyone’s underdog any more. The Labour Party would be a proven alternative government.

When the decapitation, repopulation and emasculation of institutions started from day one of the new administration, and to which I too was eventually a victim, I rationalised that this was a reaction to decades of being excluded from power. Unacceptable, but perhaps humanly understandable.

So you see, the brutalisation of public ethics had started even then, even in me, as I struggled to adjust to the downward spiral of standards and decency.

They would come to their senses after having slaked their initial thirst, I thought. They would learn from their mistakes and get down to the business of governing. If only wishing would make it so.

True, some ministers did rise to expectations, and in some areas of government, progress has certainly been made. In normal circumstances there would be no question about the Labour Party meriting a full term in office and laying a strong claim on a follow-up term to fulfil its agenda.

The Labour Party. Not Joseph Muscat. It is now clear that by virtue of being perceived as this government’s de facto moral standard, the Panama-Pilatus rot at the very heart of this administration was allowed to infect all levels and sectors of governance, well beyond the original money-laundering plot.

What makes me particularly angry is that by allowing the Panama-Pilatus rot to fester, by renouncing Prime Ministerial responsibility in favour of electoral smoke-and-mirrors, Muscat has denied Malta its chance for real political healing.

Even the most charitable scenario sees him as unable to rid his government of sleaze, unable to lead the country internationally with honour and integrity. Unable to distinguish between long-term economic heath and a quick buck. Unable to see the enormous long-term damage this is having on our institutions, our democracy, our reputation and very livelihood.

We are left with no other option: to remove the Panama-Pilatus rot we have to remove, by his own insistence, Joseph Muscat himself

Muscat did not have the decency and dignity to step aside, even if temporarily, for the good of the country. Instead he chose to use the Labour Party as his human shield. The party yet again faces the nightmare of not having been able to complete an undisputed legislature since 1981, 36 years ago.

We are left with no other option: to remove the Panama-Pilatus rot we have to remove, by his own insistence, Joseph Muscat himself. And to remove Joseph Muscat we need to remove the Labour Party from power. This will not be good for democracy, but the alternative is far worse.

It is a bitter pill to swallow, almost as disgusting as Lawrence Cutajar’s fenkata cooked in Konrad Mizzi’s corned beef. But it needs to be done. At least, Simon Busuttil is one of the very few people who can clean up this mess and reunite the country.

What we really, really want

If the parties want to entice the electorate to vote for them on the strength of their irresistible promises, they should go the whole hog. This is my list of 10 sure-fire proposals:

1. Free cosmetic surgery for all over 50s (guess how old I am).

2. Extend free medicine delivery to free pizza delivery through the Pizza Parlour Of Your Choice (PPOYC).

3. Guarantee that no public administration employee’s workplace will be more than 15 minutes’ walking distance from home.

4. Double the length of lunch breaks to improve social well-being.

5. Free helicopters for all families with three children or more (reduces traffic and increases much-needed fertility).

6. Mandatory cryogenic freezing for students who displease the MUT.

7. Make coffee mornings, tombla and card parties 100 per cent tax deductible.

8. Use proceeds from the sale of passports to bribe all of Europe to let us win one Eurovision Song Contest.

9. Introduce ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ financial services, and use the massive income to reduce the pensionable age to 45.

10. Make environmental and heritage protection illegal.

These proposals will take one year to set up, and we will live our wildest dreams for the next four. After which we will have to declare national bankruptcy and our children will go back to grazing goats on the pale grass growing out of the cracked tarmac and concrete that will cover our land. But oh, what a glorious legislature it will be.

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