A survey for Kenya’s Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has concluded that the Kenyan government offers its citizens cradle-to-grave corruption. The commission measured the average price of backhanders that officials at all levels demand for doing their jobs. It starts with the bribe to obtain a birth certificate, which costs about €9, and ends with a bribe for a death certificate at €2. The most expensive bribe was for obtaining a government tender, at an average of €2,300. The next was for getting a job, at €900.
Ah! But that’s Africa for you many will say. No, it isn’t. Malta’s corruption simply takes a different form. It is still cradle-to-grave, but on a grander scale.
Three weeks ago the sensational news broke about the involvement of a minister and a senior official close to the Prime Minister in a highly suspicious and ill-judged plan to set up a trust in New Zealand, with a shell company in the notoriously secretive jurisdiction of Panama. Although I hold no truck for the journalist who broke the story, I congratulate her on uncovering what has been going on at the highest level of government.
It was in the best traditions of investigative journalism and equates, both in impact and importance, to the momentous scoop by Malta Today in the immediate run-up to the last election of a massive corruption scandal that raised questions about the then Nationalist government’s competence, accountability and the integrity of many, both in and outside that government, who had been very close to it over several years.
Although Panamagate is a story which is still unfolding, it will run and run. It seems unconscionable that the Prime Minister has not demanded, as a first step, the resignation of both the tainted Minister for Energy and his own Chief of Staff pending the outcome of the enquiry into the affair – an audit which, given the nature of Panamanian trusts, seems preordained to fail to provide any hard evidence. Just as Oilgate brought down the Nationalist government, it may well be that Panamagate will presage an end to this administration.
I recently wrote about the current maladministration and misgovernment of this country. As I have done before over the last three years in my articles on corruption, Malta Tagħna Lkoll lawlessness, meritocracy, the scandalous AFM promotions, the Mallia shooting incident and others, I tried to be as objective and non-partisan as possible.
But I found again that PN apologists, who seem pathologically incapable of seeing things except through a Nationalist prism, took the line “you voted these people into power, so you can blame yourself for the state of the country”. No, I did not. There were 167,533 voters who put Muscat into power, 35,107 more than PN.
Casting one’s vote has become a commodity for sale
The Maltese suffer from two besetting sins: greed and hypocrisy. Hypocrisy, the claim to moral standards to which we do not then conform, may be explained, though not excused, as the direct reflection of our small island mentality and our Catholic roots.
In the current political frenzy over Panamagate, it is hypocritical of PN apologists to ignore Oilgate and what we learnt soon after the last general election about a whole generation of Nationalist ministers – Michael Falzon, Ninu Zammit and Austin Gatt – who had money stashed away in Swiss bank accounts.
It has also been alleged that two other former Nationalist ministers – John Dalli, who was removed as EU Commissioner, and Giovanna Debono – may have been involved in malpractice.
It is hypocritical of apologists to airbrush these revelations of Nationalist corruption from the current debate.
Maltese greed belongs in a league by itself. It is rare to find an area of public life which has not been tarnished by corruption. A culture of corruption and lawlessness – the two are related – appears to permeate every aspect of our society in a spectrum which ranges from nepotism and clientelism to the wilful and largely unregulated law-breaking seen daily on our roads.
It manifests itself in the bribery, embezzlement, theft, fraud and political and judicial abuse of power for private gain.
Why have swindling the State and corruption become a way of life in Malta? The answer clearly lies in the way Maltese politics is conducted. It starts with nepotism, cronyism and clientelism, then seeps into every pore of political life. It was rife under previous Nationalist administrations and – despite all the promises to the contrary before the last election – has been endemic since 2013 under the Labour government.
It leads ineluctably to the stage where even casting one’s vote has become a commodity for sale. Politicians accept without demur that to get elected they will have to satisfy individual requests for favours in return for their votes. The politician is complicit in a bribe by his constituent. Both are guilty. Neither bats an eyelid.
The start of corruption in our politics is so insidious that neither the voter nor the politician realises where the slippery slope leads. It leads to preference and promotion in the workplace, to job placements, to tax avoidance and, ultimately, directly to the abuse of public power, undue influence and impropriety to benefit private or party political interests.
It leads to a gullible electorate becoming more jaundiced with politics and the widespread acceptance among businessmen and construction magnates that funding political parties is the only way to wield influence over public policy.
Thus cradle-to-grave corruption becomes the rule rather than the exception. This undermining of the political process invites public sector corruption. It leads to a loss of trust in politics and the public institutions of the State, weakening not only our faith in good governance, but also the reputation of the country in one of its most important economic sectors, financial services, where probity is crucial.
Both major political parties are guilty. As we see today, in our infantile politics every instance of corruption simply leads to a catfight, with both blaming each other. In opposition – take a bow Simon Busuttil – the parties promise to root out corruption. When in office the opportunity to deal ruthlessly with the perpetrators, including those who collude in the crime, is ignored.
Is Malta a genuinely rule-based democracy, or do we simply place too much emphasis on tribal elections and too little on the other essential features of democracy? Is respect for the rule of law solidly underpinned by robust institutions to apply it, with proper checks and balances on the executive, and open, transparent and accountable government to bolster the fight against corruption?
Both political leaders need to show the statesmanship to declare, in unison, that corruption in Maltese public life will no longer be tolerated and will be eradicated. It requires a combined effort of political will. This is the key.
Action also rests with society itself. There can be no solutions to social and political problems that do not involve civil society exercising active citizenship in pursuit of civic values and the common interest. The Maltese themselves need a change of culture.
Politicians have allowed Maltese society to be taken for a ride, a ride in which it has been complicit. The strength of citizens as individuals must in future act as a counterweight to vested political and corporate interests to promote institutional accountability.