Like many others, I've sometimes been tempted to see Labour's repeated outrageousness and incompetence as a drift from tragedy to comedy. However, I'm beginning to think that the sad truth is precisely the other way round.
The comedy is short-term. The tragedy will unfold in the long-term.
For example. I find the Facebook comments by the Labour MP, Etienne Grech, to be hilarious. He has suggested that Joseph Muscat is the best European leader and can save Greece in four months if he is only given the chance to lead it. Dr Grech is perfectly serious, which of course makes it funnier.
It's very tempting to suggest how Muscat would try to save Greece. Perhaps by selling the Acropolis to China or Azerbaijan?
However, once the joke wears off, Grech's declaration has its tragic side. Are Labour's backbenchers so ambitious for promotion that they will say anything to get their boss's attention? Or are backbenchers like Grech sincere? In any case, how can they ever act as a brake on abuse of power if they simply cannot perceive the intrinsic shallowness and corruption of Muscat's government?
That's just the backbenchers. Once you start scrutinising the government itself, the tragic dimension begins to take over.
It's farcical that Chris Cardona expects us to believe that the document he produced as a 'contract' for his current apartment at Portomaso is genuine. It took him very long to produce and it is unlike any other rental contract ever signed.
But the farce stops as soon as one realises what cynicism it takes to produce such a 'contract' and expect to close the matter.
Cardona clearly does not feel obliged to answer fundamental questions about his close friendships and associations that could affect how he takes decisions as a minister. It says a lot about his idea of power. It says a lot about the Prime Minister who hasn't sacked him.
Then there's the other minister, Konrad Mizzi, who see's nothing wrong with his wife having a job as special envoy, paid a super-salary with nothing much to show for it. Her idea of power was shown in her meeting with Simon Busuttil.
When he told her that it's wrong for a minister's wife to be given a government job like the one she has, she asked where that was written. Apparently, it escapes her that, in a democracy, where government power is carefully controlled, you don't even need to write down something so obvious.
The rest of us, of course, she had already patronised with her insulting and arrogant "What I do for you" comment to the press.
Stepping further into the tragic mode, there is the Gaffarena saga. It is clear there is a network that tips off Gaffarena on which property he should target next. The process seems corrupt from its very inception. But what action has been taken so far? We know that there are inquiries going on but to date there are no resignations and nobody has been suspended. Does this sound like a normal democratic society to you?
The most tragic aspect is that the Lands Department falls directly under our Prime Minister. The rot is his political responsibility.
The drift into tragedy can only be stopped if civil society begins to voice its disgust. I am very pleased to hear that some of our key players in our civil society are speaking up.
The red Line
The Medical Association of Malta held a press conference where it publicly expressed its very serious concern on the government's plan to go ahead with the privatisation of the Maltese health system. MAM has warned that putting the public service under private management would be crossing a red line.
MAM is a key player in our health system. Yet it was not consulted on the privatisation process at all. So much for the slogan that Muscat's government listens.
As I pointed out a few weeks ago, we know what happens when a good chunk of our health system is privatised. It has been tried in the UK where it is currently leading to serious problems in the system. These problems are affecting not just the patients but also the health workers.
The drive for profit usually means that the foreign investor will "import" workers from countries with lower salaries. Our nurses and health care workers stand to lose not gain. Indeed, our whole system stands to lose.
To top it all, despite the cost cutting, in the UK the cost-effectiveness of the whole health system is in jeopardy.
If the same happens in Malta, because Muscat and cronies continue on their chosen path, we would have truly entered the zone of tragedy without even light comic relief.