Prime Minister Joseph Muscat spent his time in Opposition lecturing us all on the need for a clean and transparent way of doing politics. Following the 2013 general election, people have started to look elsewhere.
The gap between rhetoric and reality is alarming. The soundbites may be seductive but Muscat should be judged by his actions, not his posturing.
On the Panamagate scandal, his biggest test so far, he failed miserably. Unfortunately, untold harm is being done to Malta’s reputation. It has now transpired that Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi is the only EU cabinet minister with an offshore company in the tax haven Panama.
Speaking at the conclusion of the Labour Party general conference, his first major speech since his government was engulfed in the Panamagate crisis, the Prime Minister, again, refused to utter the words which the absolute majority of upright citizens have long expected: “Konrad Mizzi is out of government and the PL.”
Instead, once again, he bought time. Truth is that he’s buying time for a lost cause.
Muscat must have calculated that in time, the Panamagate scandal would be forgotten. It will not. Weeks have passed since blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia revealed the ownership of Panama companies by Mizzi and Keith Schembri, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff. Since then, Panamagate has had wall-to-wall coverage. Last week, it made it to the international press.
The Prime Minister has been slammed across the board. The Opposition and the independent media have long called for Mizzi’s dismissal. So did leading members of Muscat’s cabinet. Muscat would have none of it. He says he will wait for the conclusions of an “independent inquiry”.
But, as rightly stated in The Sunday Times of Malta editorial, waiting for investigations to be carried out by Malta’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit and the Commissioner for Inland Revenue is just not credible.
There is widespread consensus that Mizzi’s position is untenable. He is expected to lead by example, being a cabinet minister. He sought refuge in an offshore company within a tax haven. Not only was his decision a vote of no confidence in Malta’s financial institutions, but serious doubts about his intentions have now overshadowed the entire government and its performance.
Muscat’s – and Labour’s – spectacular implosion boils down to his inability to do the right thing
While Malta portrays itself as a reputable financial jurisdiction and is at the forefront in its fight against tax harmonisation in the EU, its leading cabinet minister opens offshore companies outside the EU and within notorious tax havens.
The saga continues, and things continue to spiral downwards. It now transpires, according to reports in the Australian press, that a Malta advisory firm began “setting up Panama companies for senior members of Malta’s Labour Party five days after the election”.
Barely had they taken their oath of office when they were looking for ways and means of how to set up offshore, secret companies and bank accounts – when they should have been focused solely on delivering the electoral promises for which people in 2013 voted with an astounding majority. (Schembri has denied any control in his Panama company before 2015).
Muscat’s refusal to sack Mizzi is a slap in the face for honest, hard-working men and women, regardless of their political affiliations. In his speech on Sunday, he promised, again, new measures to fight corruption. Now it doesn’t matter.
Following his refusal to sack Mizzi, people have run out of patience with him. Everyone has. The picture for Muscat and the Labour Party is looking bleak. Support for the Prime Minister and his party has plummeted, even among party supporters. Pollsters have found he enjoys a very marginal lead over the Opposition leader, compared to 13 per cent just a few months ago. The gap between PL and PN is now insignificant.
In its reaction to Muscat’s speech, and in his speech at the national demonstration against corruption in Valletta, the Nationalist Party and its leader described the current political situation as “surreal”. And how.
Instead of spelling it out – I. Lost. The. Plot – and despite furious calls for Mizzi’s resignation, the Prime Minister looks elsewhere. Simon Busuttil is right in pointing out that the situation has now gone beyond Mizzi’s resignation, which should have happened weeks ago, but it is about a rotten government which has lost the plot.
Sensible members of the Muscat cabinet must be watching this play out and asking themselves: “How did we get into this mess?” The answer to that question is not rocket science, but staring them in the face: Muscat’s, and Labour’s, spectacular implosion boils down to his inability to do the right thing – putting his country’s reputation before the interests of his coterie of close friends.
Alessia Psaila Zammit is a PN general election candidate in the sixth district.