These last days have been eventful, to say the least, in terms of ‘politician’ scrutiny. 

For as many years as I can remember, politicians have been accused of engaging in the shady world of sphinx-like political affairs not because of a passion or an interest in the ‘cause’, not because they want to serve their country and fellow citizens but for their personal gain, to advance their own agenda, to top up their bank accounts - in other words for cash, power and goods!

I have resisted such arguments and will continue to do so because I do believe that there are countless politicians at local, national and European level who are genuinely committed and dedicated to make the country we live-in a better place. 

But the latest case, implicating the dodgy behaviour of two ex-MPs (both admitting they had secret accounts in a Swiss bank) who have held very important offices in former governments, two politicians highly regarded by their parties (and valued by their adversaries for the political acumen they had accrued), two politicians who with others have championed the resistance in the 80’s - meant that our political class this time round came-up against a brick wall.  Obviously as soon as these stories were surfaced by The Malta Independent, doing the right thing in trailing this story, I am sure many people were rubbing their hands with smug satisfaction, because they felt that their contention was vindicated - in that politicians are ‘in it’ to amass their fortune with no ethical sagacity whatsoever. 

How terribly sad!  What a mammoth responsibility these ex-politicians have and possibly some more to come.

They have thrown our political class in disarray because the ‘jien ghedtlek’ argument has done inestimable damage.  Now, people, rightly so, can hardly believe that such matters are isolated cases and if we go by the ‘politics of perception’ that we seem to have grown so fond of, we are now scarping the barrel in terms of political credibility and trustworthiness.

Let’s not be alienated, the implications of this situation are of jumbo proportions because the rightful are going to find it ever more difficult to engage and get involved in politics, parties will keeping losing more ground in terms of confidence and the parliamentary institution will continue to see a drop in its popularity. The most recent public ‘trust-rating’, the Standard Euro Barometer (‘Public Opinion in the EU’ for Autumn 2014), states that barely 24% trust the political parties, only 33% have confidence in the ‘regional or local public authorities’ and just 51% have faith in the national parliament (that is, people have just ‘51%’ belief in the same people they elect!). 

Now if these statistics are anything to go with, once again I reiterate that we have a political class in crises and that is not good for the country. 

I believe that the time is ripe for civil society to put their heads together and engage in a bona fide dialogue bringing together all political parties, civil society, the citizenry and re-think politics;

·         Do we need political parties that are just focused on digging up dirt and slamming it in the face of their adversaries?

·         Does our Constitution lend itself to controlling and aborting abuse and abusers of people in power?

·         Why is it that the trust ratings in our institutions, namely Government, Parliament, political parties and regional/local public authorities ranking so low?

I still believe that not all is lost even though this situation has brought us closer to the edge. 

This state of affairs calls for a complete political volte-face.

I believe that first and foremost we need to develop a public-funded cross party think-tank (similar to Demos in the UK).

This situation also calls for the engagement of young people in the political scene not with token roles but actively engaged in decision making. Young people are clear-cut and will not have a problem going to the jugular if the politicians do not deliver. 

We could do with additional autonomy in our news agencies together with a stronger and more robust Broadcasting Authority.  We need more discussion programmes that deal with civic and political issues by well-researched and resourced investigative journalists.

We need grounded politicians from different social strata to get engaged in the political spectrum to ensure wider participation. 

We also need political education at school.  We should invest in what the Commissioner of Laws Dr Franco Debono, has been talking about for ages, education in Constitutional matters.  We must be informed citizens. 

The writing is on the wall – it is now necessary to read the signs of the times!

 

 

Ghandi xi Nghid on Radju Malta next Saturday 28/2/2015 at 9.05am will be discussing this issue in more depth.