For the past few months, and for much of 2017, it seemed that much of the public had wisened up to the fact that the Emperor had no clothes. The loopholes in the Constitution became apparent, the corruption and weaknesses of our institutions became a subject of debate and the destruction of our heritage and environment became priority topics.
When the Nationalist Party was defeated at the general election, it learned the wrong message from that defeat. The reason it lost was not because good governance was the wrong message, it was because the Nationalist Party was not a credible enough platform for that message to be communicated. Granted, there are a huge number of people who abuse of the system and clearly the majority believe they benefit from the status quo. However, good governance – by definition – is a system which benefits everybody. Therefore, unfortunately, it also becomes a question of packaging and marketing the right message, even though it should be self-evident.
The good governance ticket is the right ticket. Yet, instead of learning from their defeat, and cleaning up the party, the Nationalists ditched the message of good governance and fighting corruption after their defeat. When Daphne Caruana Galizia died, the new Nationalist leadership was proven wrong, and token efforts are being made to reverse course. If Daphne was killed by criminals, or a foreign agency, then yes, that is a direct consequence of poor governance. It is a political assassination which both parties must be answerable for, as they are both responsible for the weak institutions this country suffers from.
The problem is that the Nationalist Party, with all of its baggage, is not a credible alternative to the government. Labour voters who oppose corruption will not vote Nationalist. Instead of owning up to past mistakes, the Nationalists direct attention away from past mistakes, they only selectively address Malta’s current problems – because lobbies and money dictate their agenda, just like they dictate the agenda of the Labour Party. The major parties seem doomed to this fate, due to structural deformities. People choose the lesser evil. They should choose neither.
Therefore, the challenge we face is not whether we should talk about corruption or not. We need to discuss it as a topic in itself, rather than just discussing the latest scandal. Once we talk about the institutional problems we have, then we can think of solutions that may be convincing to the floating voter. The Nationalists do talk about corruption, but they do so selectively, and the issues they highlight are usually scandals which also serve to cover up their own wrongdoings elsewhere. It is not institutional corruption which is being addressed – the calls from OPM to social services, for favours.
Always ask yourself, what are people not talking about? The Majjistral Park hunting hours’ extension, for one. They were supposed to be debated thanks to the amendment by the Nationalist Party in Parliament, and yet now all we hear is silence, save for the firing of guns. So remember that unfortunately, the Emperor has no clothes. Do not forget that and vote for the lesser evil. Always think about what people are not discussing in the media, or else you will suffer from amnesia.