Eddie Fenech Adami’s great legacy was Malta’s accession to the European Union. Ġorġ Borg Olivier’s, the attainment of independence. Dom Mintoff’s lay in the transformation of Maltese society through sweeping social improvements.
The sovereign electorate has just given Joseph Muscat a massive vote of confidence with his second landslide victory in four years. He has said he will not seek a third term as Prime Minister in 2022.
It is in the nature of political leaders to be concerned about their legacy. This is neither pure vanity, nor hubris, more a natural wish to leave the country with a worthwhile improvement to its social, economic and international standing in the world for the benefit of the people they serve.
What will be Prime Minister Muscat’s lasting legacy?
Muscat’s Agenda for 2022 should be directed at focusing on four key, interrelated legacy issues: rectifying the fault lines in Malta’s Constitution; restoring ethical standards in public life; strengthening the rule of law; and safeguarding the cultural landscape and the natural environment.
As to the top legacy challenge, the kernel of all the problems of good governance, which were so worryingly exposed in the last Parliament, stems from the need for a holistic review of Malta’s Constitution (how it has operated: its strengths, weaknesses, omissions, efficiency and effectiveness).
Plans to hold a constitutional convention, as promised under the 2013 manifesto – and now, thankfully, made the centrepiece of the government’s agenda in the President’s ‘speech from the throne’ – must start immediately. The convention must be carefully organised. The crucial element for it to succeed is the choice of a person of standing and integrity, supported by a full-time team of experts, to oversee the project. Without good leadership, the convention will founder. Muscat must set about this task immediately.
There are major institutional issues to be addressed concerning the current checks and balances under the Constitution. The key challenge has been the accumulation of powers in the executive, specifically in the office of the Prime Minister.
The concentration of power in the hands of one man is unhealthy. The President acts on the advice of the Cabinet. The Prime Minister has the effective last word on the selection and appointment of the President. He also appoints the Cabinet. The executive controls the House of Representatives (the legislature). All top appointments of most institutions of government are in practice appointed by the executive. Members of the judiciary, the third arm of government, are also selected and appointed by the executive.
The separation of powers between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary exists only on paper. The Prime Minister has effective control over all the levers of government. Malta currently has an elective dictatorship. The need for greater checks and balances and more transparency and accountability of the executive is now paramount if the poor governance to which Malta has been subjected over the last years is to become a thing of the past. Finding workable solutions to these issues will constitute the heart of the constitutional convention’s work.
The second legacy challenge concerns public ethical standards. One of the first promises made by Muscat on taking office four years ago was his commitment to revise the ministerial code of ethics.
Perception matters in public life. The corrupt behaviour of too many past ministers of both parties – and the deep suspicions of corruption surrounding some in this government, including the Prime Minister – have become the focus of a wider sense of betrayal that many feel about Maltese politics.
Muscat’s first step should be the publication of an up-to-date code of ethics which spells out unequivocally the behaviour expected of ministers and MPs. These standards should be built around the seven principles of public life: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, transparency, honesty and leadership. But it is equally paramount that somebody of calibre is appointed with the independent authority to police the code of ethics – a ‘Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards’ with teeth.
The third legacy challenge is to demonstrate that Malta is committed to the rule of law. We present ourselves to the world as a country where the law is robust and neutral because, among many other things, our reputation as a financial services centre depends on it.
Respect for the rule of law enables people to plan, to invest, to negotiate and to live without fear of arbitrary interference. The efficient and effective administration of justice is essential to any successful democracy. Malta has fallen short.
The Justice Reform Commission made a start on a much-needed reform of the administration of justice. But there is still a long way to go before full implementation and there have been too many previous examples of good intentions foundering on the rocks of vested interests.
The most pressing issue is to overcome the terrible dearth of talent in the Malta Police Force, which constitutes the frontline (and Achille’s heel) of the rule of law. If we are to progress as a rule-based democracy we need to ensure that the machinery of law, order and the administration of justice is in good working order and that arbitrary interference or tampering by the government into matters which are outside its constitutional remit do not recur. This calls overridingly for police commissioners who are independent-minded and operationally independent of the State.
Muscat should immediately establish a high-powered, public commission of inquiry to make recommendations for fundamental improvements to the calibre, leadership, training and top structure of the Malta Police Force. He should commit himself to acting on its findings.
His final legacy challenge is the need to reverse course on the environment. The history of Malta’s environmental and spatial planning over the last 60 years has been a dismal story of greed, exploitation, abuse, misgovernment and political ineptitude. The last four years have epitomised all that Malta has done wrong in this field, making matters worse.
If the next five years are marked by more of the same – the continuation of architectural and cultural vandalism and the loss of Malta’s last vestiges of heritage landscapes and further rapid degradation of the built and rural environment – then his commitment “to leave behind a heritage to future generations” that will be better off than today will have been betrayed.
Looking back in 20 or 30 years’ time, what will be Muscat’s substantive legacy? Will it be carved in marble through the introduction of essential changes to the Constitution, with concomitant improvements in public ethical standards and the rule of law?
Or will it instead be marked by the loss of Malta’s last vestiges of open countryside and further rapid degradation of the built and rural environment?
These are the acid tests which will define Muscat’s legacy to Malta.