Simon Busuttil has made it his mantra to battle clientelism. But as he starts to draw up the plans for a future Nationalist government he may have stumbled on the first problem.

Buried in the Nationalist Party’s election defeat report was a reflection on voters coming from districts that had no minister during the Gonzi administration.

In a telling note the report, penned in 2013, said the electorate in districts that ended up without a minister felt “isolated” from the executive.

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil has pledged to eradicate clientelism and political patronage but who will listen? Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi had opted for a small Cabinet after the 2008 election, a move widely acknowledged to have caused logistical and political problems along the way.

But the observation, coupled with the other reflection that “ministry employees only served people from their minister’s districts”, shed an ominous light on what voters expect from ‘their’ party.

The PN’s own customer care department also came in for some scathing remarks as Nationalists “lost hope” of having their grievances addressed.

The report said the party had failed in its work since it did not have the necessary influence with the ministry to solve individual cases that came before it. “This created damage because the PN appeared weak.”

These reflections may appear passé as the PN shifts gear and enters the government-in-waiting mode but it is this very mentality that its leader Simon Busuttil has pledged to eradicate.

During the PN Independence Day celebrations last month he proposed creating a special ministry to listen to people’s grievances and tell them whether they are justified or not.

The proposal, however, risks perpetuating the malaise rather than solving it, even though Dr Busuttil told The Sunday Times of Malta his idea was “misrepresented” by the media when it was dubbed a complaints ministry.

“My idea is a citizen’s rights ministry so an individual wouldn’t need to go to different ministries when rights have been breached,” he explained, putting more beef to the proposal when interviewed by the newspaper.

The idea is to create a one-stop-shop for addressing infringements. The ministry would then follow the case to ensure the individual’s rights are respected, Dr Busuttil said.

I want to do away with the idea that you need to beg a politician for what is rightfully yours. It does away with the idea of clientelism

“I want to do away with the idea that you need to beg a politician for what is rightfully yours. It does away with the idea of clientelism,” he said. But the proposal still lacks an explanation of how the new ministry’s work will coexist with institutions like the Ombudsman tasked to address these sort of complaints.

It is also unclear how this proposal will be different from the grievances boards set up by the current administration within the various ministries and which were criticised by the PN. They have also come under heavy fire from the Ombudsman, who said they risked creating further injustices as they solve others.

Columnist Claire Bonello, writing in The Sunday Times of Malta, expressed her doubts on the PN proposal. “For a few fleeting seconds the idea may sound fine – a Complaints Tsar... Except that there is the risk that the so-called Complaints Ministry will become the Clientelism Ministry,” Dr Bonello wrote.

At the moment there are various official channels and ways in which complaints may be voiced and injustices addressed, she added.

In fact, over the past 18 months the Ombudsman has been locked in a dispute with the government over a complaints board that was created to address claims of injustice in the army.

Soldiers took their claims to the board rather than the Ombudsman, raising question marks over the impartiality of ad hoc institutions created by governments to redress injustices perpetuated by a previous administration.

Dr Bonello questions whether Dr Busuttil’s ‘complaints ministry’ will dispense “its own brand of justice” as opposed to that meted out by the Ombudsman and the law courts.

For Godfrey Pirotta, public policy lecturer at the University of Malta, there is no beating about the bush on what people understand when they ask for favours from politicians.

“When people ask for favours they know they are asking for something which is not theirs in the first place and they do not need a minister to tell them. If, however, people feel they have not been treated properly there are a number of institutions which can investigate and deliver a clear answer, such as the Ombudsman.”

But he pertinently points out that clientelism is a two-way process: it requires a patron and not merely a client.

He says that since the inception of modern parties in 1921, Maltese politicians have been seen as patrons and voters seek, through the use of their vote, to extract favours from them.

“This state of affairs was entrenched with the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote electoral system in 1921 and has promoted a culture of clientelism, which can only be eradicated through a complete change in our electoral system,” he argues.

The electoral system does not only pit one party against another but candidates from the same party against each other. This means that to secure election candidates must not only promise to push forward the personal interests of their constituents but must be seen as capable of satisfying them.

Prof. Pirotta says it is common practice for candidates to go round homes asking people what favours they require and try to convince them that they have the ability to deliver.

The district-based electoral system, he believes, “demands clientelism” to ensure the survival of candidates.

“Under our electoral system we are all slaves to clientelism and no new ministerial office will go anywhere near to denting it let alone destroy it,” he argues.

Prof. Pirotta’s observation dove-tails with the conclusions in the PN 2013 election defeat report.

Whether Dr Busuttil will be able to change this remains to be seen but his toughest nut yet may be convincing his own election candidates to play ball.

kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com