President George Vella’s maiden speech on his investiture last week contained the first notes of integrity and moral authority from the leaders of our polity for a long time.
President Vella did not try to do a chameleon act. What we heard was the lifelong conviction of a man dedicated to the politics of social-democratic advancement. We were not being asked to forget some distasteful political past, but to celebrate the fulfilment of a life of service to society and the State.
His speech was imprinted with his authentic ‘voice’ – I have no doubt that it was not ghost-written for him. The authority of vision and judgement that it expressed did not come from his newly-assumed office. We were reminded that offices and constitutions are so much dross unless they are given life and meaning by those that occupy the first and uphold the second. It is the person who embodies and amplifies or diminishes the authority of the office, not the other way round.
One reaction to my article on the Presidency a month ago was that one could not expect the President to be the guardian of the Constitution if the office had no effective tools to undertake this task. Strictly speaking, this is true: the current role of the President of Malta is largely ceremonial, with few real powers. But the true strength of the Maltese Presidency is not in its power. It is in its authority. Queen Elizabeth II has practically no power, and the Italy Presidency is much closer to Malta’s model than that of France or of the United States. But it is their very powerlessness in the daily brawl and grind of politics that gives them their privileged stance.
Ultimately, in a democratic system of proportional representation as is Malta’s, the electorate gets the government it deserves. And if that means that it has to live through, and hopefully learn from, the consequences of its choices, no well-meaning presidential philosopher-prince should have the power to avert them.
That is not to say that there is no need to strengthen the meagre constitutional checks and balances that have failed us so miserably in these last six years. But the office of the Presidency should first and foremost be about moral leadership that can speak truth to power in a time of crisis. It should be able to ensure the integrity of the State instruments of regulation, review, judgement and enforcement.
In the face of institutionalised amorality the Presidency should be able to say: Enough. No more.
I have no doubt that President Vella is acutely aware that he is one of the very few persons of stature who can get this government to see the real danger to Maltese society of the damning Venice, GRECO and Moneyval reports, to mention just the latest.
In this time of trial for the Republic, our prayers are with President George Vella
His speech has already set the tone of his Presidency. He is right in ensuring that the constructional review process is as inclusive as possible. In contrast with the well-intentioned restlessness that, to a greater or lesser extent, characterised the previous two incumbents, he intends to be first and foremost a moral compass.
And he did so immediately by going beyond the government script of labelling Daphne’s assassination as a ‘tragedy’, as his predecessor did, but comparing it to the political murders of Karen Grech and Raymond Caruana.
In this time of trial for the Republic, our prayers are with President George Vella.
MDA boxes Malta
Malta Developers’ Association president Sandro Chetcuti might believe that he thinks outside the box, but he definitely talks out of somewhere else.
Chetcuti infamously urged his speculator members to “make hay while the sun shines”. He may well think outside the box when it comes to finding innovative ways to extend the MDA’s construction orgasm. But the only boxes the public can see are the concrete ones pullulating in our towns and countryside as the rape of Malta continues unabated.
At the same time, not since the end of World War II some 70 years ago have we seen the working poor increasingly becoming homeless. More and more young couples cannot afford to set up their own nest, putting a real strain on family life. This is the Chetcuti paradox: the more boxes are built, the less affordable they become.
It is an outrage that demands national action. But although the Prime Minister has finally got his act together on social housing, he refuses to intervene in the market with affordable housing. And, of course, Chetcuti jumps up to cheer, Malta’s very own jack-in-the-box.
No whisky priest
God has a quirky sense of humour. On the eve of April Fools’ Day the whisky bottle in the sacristy gets mistaken for the one with altar wine, and the Archbishop gets a grokk of a shock. What was a whisky bottle doing in the sacristy wine cupboard of St John’s Co-Cathedral? There must be a delightful story of some monsignor squirrelling away his illicit stash where he thought no one would find it. More fool him.
But Archbishop Scicluna is no whisky priest. I don’t think he has been given sufficient credit locally for his courage and vision in helping Pope Francis lead the worldwide Church out of the morass of sexual abuse and clericalism. Nor for speaking truth to power on Malta’s own quagmire of moral and political compromise. He is the other institutional lighthouse of sanity and integrity in this sad country that has lost its way.