Why are many of us saying that the rule of law in Malta is being undermined by the Labour Party in government? The major reason is that during the past few years, under the Labour administration, persons were appointed to high office because of their political allegiance and are therefore likely to find it difficult to take decisions which embarrass the government.
These include the Police Commissioner and Commander of the Armed Forces of Malta. Others, including the Attorney General, were appointed by the Nationalist administration and probably retained because of their submissive nature, not daring to contradict the Prime Minister and failing to take steps that could annoy the government. The law courts have not been spared – former senior party officials and close relatives of members of the government were appointed judges and magistrates.
Most of those who lead bodies associated with economic and political governance of the country are openly Labour Party sympathisers. The so-called Planning Authority is out of control, abdicating its remit of planning construction development and serving the interests of millionaire developers who are known to be cheek-by-jowl with the party in government.
Apart from this, the government itself includes Cabinet members with a very bad reputation, with at least three members of the Cabinet seriously implicated in behaviour not worthy of a high-ranking government official. Some people associated with shady dealings while in government service are cynically being given high-paid jobs with the government.
There is no doubt that the rule of law has been seriously undermined in Malta, and yet the Prime Minister dismisses accusations against his government as being politically motivated, even claiming (as he did in a BBC interview recently) in a cavalier manner that the rule of law has been strengthened under his watch. The erosion of the rule of law in Malta is leading to a situation where the law of the jungle raises its head.
In such a situation, many unscrupulous persons take advantage of the enforcement gaps for their own interests, as has been the case of a certain ‘entrepreneur’ well known for his shady dealings, who allegedly started selling property on a large tract of land which he bought cheaply from the government, even before he had the proper permit to do so.
Added to all this, there is the inability or the unwillingness of the government to enforce the law in various areas such as construction malpractices, intrusion on pavements by restaurateurs and the illegal occupation of beaches, as well as the failure to protect a large proportion of Malta’s population from inhaling poisonous air due to diesel emissions from old polluting vehicles (including construction vehicles and private coaches).
People like myself, who have many international connections, are bound to feel somewhat ashamed and embarrassed when attending international events, to be associated with Malta, which has been called a Mafia country in the international press. Malta’s name has been tarnished and no amount of ambiguous argumentation and innuendos by the Prime Minister, for which he has now became renowned, will restore Malta’s reputation.
The calls for the Prime Minister to resign are, to my mind, justified. The Labour parliamentary group should choose an alternative person to lead the Labour government, who obviously should not be one of those MPs implicated in or condoning serious misbehaviour.
The main remit of a new Prime Minister should be to restore Malta’s governance institutions, principally by ceasing to appoint cronies to lead these entities, to ensure that existing laws are properly enforced, even if this could mean the loss of votes in the short run, and to repair Malta’s image internationally by restoring the rule of law and clearly disassociating the government from corrupt outfits.