During the Nationalist Party’s week-long general council meeting, Opposition leader Adrian Delia laid a great emphasis on the importance of listening to the people’s pains and aspirations.
The Opposition naturally has to keep its ear to the ground to be in a better position to carry out its task of checking the government’s actions and policies, holding it accountable to citizens, and coming up with its own alternative policies.
The Opposition faces an uphill task that gets steeper as a result of the separation of powers among the three branches of the State, where the executive branch consisting of the Cabinet of ministers dominates over the legislative and judicial branches.
The challenge faced by the Opposition becomes even greater as a consequence of the government’s hijacking of constitutional institutions that have the duty of supporting democracy in the country by scrutinising the actions of the executive branch.
No sooner had Joseph Muscat assumed office as Prime Minister in 2013, he unceremoniously hustled persons heading these institutions out of office and replaced them by Labour Party faithful whose loyalty was first and foremost to him.
Police Commissioner John Rizzo, who led the police force in the most impeccable, impartial and independent way for 12 years under the previous administration was quickly replaced by the Labour Party’s legal procurator, who had retired from the police force four years earlier. It was however not long before the new commissioner was forced to resign. Similarly, his successor did not last long in office and was also removed after attempting to cover up for a shooting incident involving a minister’s driver.
Things took a turn for the worse with the appointment of Lawrence Cutajar, who is the current police commissioner. His unbecoming conduct has caused considerable embarrassment to the police force both locally and internationally.
Cutajar has consistently showed an unwillingness to investigate Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri over the scandal involving their offshore companies registered in Panama under a tax evasion scheme, that was revealed over two years ago by leaked secret files. According to evidence published by the Daphne Pro-ject, these companies were destined to receive €150,000 monthly. Yet, Muscat defended two close allies throughout and denied there was anything untoward in what they did.
Cutajar also showed a reluctance to investigate into two reports by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) that concluded there were serious suspicions of money laundering by Schembri, and another report by the same unit that concluded that Mizzi should also be investigated for money laundering. Similarly, the Attorney General did not refer these cases to the courts for investigation, as in the case of 30 other cases of possible money-laundering that were referred to the courts over an eight-year period between 2010, when he was appointed in office, and 2017.
The institutionalised corruption that has engulfed our small nation is reflected in the Corruption Perception Index published by Transparency International, where Malta’s score on the index has significantly declined over the past couple of years, dropping nine places to 46th place.
The level of corruption in Malta could well be at a level that compares to countries ruled by dictatorships by now had it not been for the checks and balances kept by the European Union on the executive branch of the government, as well as the zealous watchdog role played by a number of journalists who have exposed several corruption scandals implicating government ministers and politically appointed officials.
Most notably among these journalists was Daphne Caruana Galizia, who fearlessly exposed corruption and paid the ultimate price when she was barbarically murdered last October.
It is of concern that like Joseph Muscat, Adrian Delia is adopting a populist approach to politics when he is exploiting the divisions within society for electoral gain
A stalwart in the struggle against corruption and defender of the rule of law has undoubtably been former Nationalist Party leader and Opposition spokesman on good governance Simon Busuttil. He has taken upon himself the responsibility abdicated by the police by filing applications before court for the investigation of Mizzi and Schembri and other high echelons in the country.
In an effort to avoid the obvious truth about the mud-deep corruption that has engulfed the country, Labour spokespersons have accused Busuttil, MEP David Casa and others of tarnishing the country’s reputation abroad, for speaking out against the systematic and serious deficiencies in the rule of law in Malta. They have publicly branded these individuals as traitors, thus provoking vengeful behaviour against them from hot-headed Labour supporters. And as if this were not enough, they threatened them with fines and even imprisonment.
The Labour government has exploited its comfortable nine-seat majority in Parliament to ride roughshod over the Nationalist Opposition. Never more than now has the country needed a strong and effective Opposition to safeguard democracy.
Unfortunately the Opposition party is still reeling from the impact of a devastating loss that it suffered at last year’s general election, while the wounds sustained by internal party factions from the subsequent leadership election have not yet healed completely.
Although the party appears to be gradually finding its feet again, as can be seen from survey ratings that show a maintained upward trend both for the party and its leader, Delia still has a hard task ahead to convince his own party’s supporters to trust him.
In his closing address to the PN general council, Delia promised to follow Busuttil’s steps by continuing to put up a strong fight against corruption. This brings to mind that Muscat had made the same promise when he was leader of the Opposition. At that time he had solemnly proclaimed that anti-corruption measures would be Labour’s first priority.
However, after he eventually rose to power he ended up leading the most corrupt government in Malta’s history. It is clear that Muscat’s promises were mere gimmicks and marketing stunts.
It is of concern that like Muscat, Delia is adopting a populist approach to politics when he is exploiting the divisions within society for electoral gain. This transpires from his statement that the PN will no longer remain the party of the elitists such as lawyers and doctors only, but will be the voice of all the people.
Such a statement triggers animosity against these professionals by portraying them as a privileged class. Apart from being unnecessary, this statement was incorrect. Had the party been truly restricted to professionals, how could it have obtained a majority of the popular vote in so many elections over the years?
Back in the 1970s, when Eddie Fenech Adami was leader, a workers’ secretariat was even set up within the party’s structure. This secretariat later became known as Solidarjetà Ħaddiema Partit Nazzjonalista and had the specific aim of defending the workers, whose rights were trampled upon by successive Labour governments of those dark days.
While every member of the PN should accept Delia as his democratically elected leader and give him his loyal support, on the other part Delia should not play the same game as Muscat and try to rise on a tide of populism.
Unless the Nationalist Opposition becomes a truly united body and proves itself to be a worthy alternative government, it could never offer a real challenge to the Labour government. The party has to come forward with a clear plan for the country’s future that takes due cognisance of the people’s concerns while putting the country’s interests first and foremost.