At the last general election, people elected a new government with a huge majority and the reasoning was they wanted a complete change. Everybody hoped that it would be a government for all people irrespective of political colour. They believed the promises made by the Labour Party and imagined that they were going to experience a new approach to life, leading to more equal opportunities for all, complete transparency, meritocracy and accountability.
They were fully aware that their standard of living was not in jeopardy and might also improve, because the last two administrations had, despite the financial meltdown that occurred in 2008, increased Malta’s GDP per capita by 41 per cent. The economic foundations were strongly laid and it would take a tsunami to eradicate the good work that had been done in this sphere of economic activity.
Their hope of a better life, however, has been completely dashed during the last four years of the present administration. Though economic progress has continued its steady course, many people of all political leanings believe that they have been cheated and discriminated against by the present government.
Most of the promises made were broken, because the appointment of hundreds of trusted persons has distinguished even between Labour supporters themselves. Thus, discrimination has been rampant.
Worse, there are serious allegations of money laundering and the outright breaking of laws by leading Cabinet ministers. It has been established and proved that two secret companies in a tax haven jurisdiction were opened, and yet no action was taken either by the government or national institutions that should be the watchdogs to prevent wrongdoing.
Incompetent or opportunistic leaders of national institutions should be removed, as they failed to carry out their duties in Malta’s hour of need
Regarding the opening of the third company, there is also proof of its existence. Yet again, no enquiry has been set up to investigate who is or are its owners by the government or any of the national institutions. One suspects that there must have been a cover-up by the government itself and lack of decency and professionalism by the national institutions that are in duty bound to investigate these matters.
At this late stage, a magisterial enquiry has been set up, because the Prime Minister’s family is allegedly implicated. This action augurs well on paper. But does it?
This magisterial enquiry was only set up after documents were removed from the place. To fool the people, government apologists state that no proof of Joseph Muscat’s involvement has been submitted.
The magisterial enquiry could not therefore conclude that it found any evidence to incriminate anybody.
However, when there is abundant evidence that potential proof has been purposely removed because the authorities are in a position to make things happen, the courts’ practice and duty is to investigate these circumstantial occurrences and why the police did not take immediate action but quickly responded to the Prime Minister’s instructions that conveniently came about at a late stage.
This is the reason that the people are angry: they are seeing the breakdown of all their institutions, the ineptitude of the national institutions’ leaders, the great damage being sustained by the financial services sector and the bad image and general reputation their country is going through. These questions have to be immediately remedied to avoid any potential civil unrest that could satiate people’s anger.
As the people voted for the Labour Party to administer our country for a complete legislature, honest people within the government and the Labour Party should remove the bad apples within it and appoint serious and honest legislators who are not tainted in any way by any malpractice for the sake of the country.
Another important point is that incompetent or opportunistic leaders of national institutions should be removed, as they failed to carry out their duties in Malta’s hour of need. I believe that a new machinery should be set up for their replacement.
I suggest that a team made up of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Ombudsman and the Auditor General should examine who the best professional person is to occupy the top position of each national institution, that is, the police, MFSA, FIAU and the Attorney General.
The appointed persons could only be removed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament. In this way, the political element and involvement would be removed.
Manuel Borda holds a PhD in economics and is the author of four novels.