The leading article in The Malta Independent (The Tone is Set, 5 February) highlighted the disease which has seized the Maltese body politic – namely chronic political polarisation.

The leader-writer noted that “Malta is rapidly entering election mode, the tone has been set and it seems like the political slugging match is going to be anything but pretty”.

It is all well and good to recognise the early symptoms of the disease. The point is to identify and isolate the virus which causes the disease. The deadly virus is personal animosity and character assassination, all of which poison the political process.

Democratic politics are by nature competitive and, within reason, also confrontational. They are enlivened by reasoned and rational debate. They revolve round the principle that politicians, freely elected with a mandate to govern, are under parliamentary scrutiny and publicly accountable. Democratic politics thrive on transparency.

Well-defined limits

The whole process calls for vigilance as well as a spirit of public service. In the exercise of their constituency and parliamentary business, politicians may be demanding, robust, even exacting. But there are well-defined limits that distinguish decent, democratic politics. Outright lies, insults, and violence fall well outside these limits.

Deliberate or veiled attempts to subvert the rules of the democratic game are equally to be condemned and are, therefore, anathema. This notwithstanding, they oftentimes constitute standard operating procedure in Maltese politics.

The most blatant and common disregard of basic democratic rectitude relates to public accountability.

Time and time again, the arrogance of power tramples on the people’s right to know. Whether by evasion or by outright refusal, ministers and their underlings in charge of quangos, deliberately fail to give an account of their stewardship. And when they are pressed to play by the rules, they turn the tables on their pursuers and revert to personal attacks. Of this we have had much too many. Need one quote chapter and verse?

Chapter and Verse

The epic of the Voice of the Mediterranean radio station and the Mater Dei saga are the most recent examples. The episode preceding the last general election, when ex-Prime Minister Fenech Adami libelled Opposition Leader Alfred Sant, and the ongoing debate over the reliability of statistics revised by the National Statistics Office, then managed by Mr Gordon Cordina, all ended up in a quagmire of personal recrimination – leaving the issue of public accountability hanging in the air.

The air was polluted with other separate incidents all heavy with the aroma of corruption, real or perceived.

There have been worse incidents with character assassination in mind – some of them relating to private marital affairs.

The fact that they have not been exorcised means that old skeletons in the political cupboards could yet be capriciously reused by political scoundrels at will.

It is this Sword of Damocles that hangs on Maltese democratic politics until the stables are cleansed once and for all.

It will be no easy task – and one unlikely to be realised unless the Maltese body politic is declared clean of the deadly virus.

To my mind, Malta’s only hope lies in the up-and-coming generation, and in a radical change in mentality – one, where clean democratic values leave no room for the washing of dirty linen, and waste of time at the expense of progress.

jgv@onvol,net