The Auditor's Report forced the hand of the Prime Minister into accepting the resignation of his Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon, who has been found guilty of collusion with property speculators. This inevitable conclusion comes nine months late - and following the publication of an investigative account, with all the facts, by the independent press, calls for transparency and good governance by the Opposition and a weak defence of the indefensible mounted by the government.
Labour's standards in free fall
By no stretch of the imagination can it be said, as the Labour Party is saying, that this resignation is some sort of raising of the bar by the Labour government. On the contrary, it is evidence of Labour's standards in free fall. The Parliamentary Secretary was found guilty of collusion. The Prime Minister procrastinated for no less than nine months, when the facts about the shady dealings were already out and the Internal Audit and Investigations Department had already highlighted the shortcomings. So he was obliged to take action by the Auditor's Report and not because of any high ethical standards. In fact, this is a government with no standards at all: anything goes.
Good governance, transparency, accountability and zero tolerance of corruption have soon become echoes of an effective, even if deceitful, electoral campaign. The Labour government has spectacularly failed to improve on standards at institutions, and it has instead steered them into their decline.
In just three years, New Labour's levels of corruption have managed to reach a point that Old Labour only managed in 16 years, for let us not forget that there are already four Auditor General Reports condemning this government - with the dirty €4 million Café Premier deal being just one of them. It is truly time to wake up and smell the coffee.
PN's good governance proposals
In full contrast, Simon Busuttil was spot on from day one. He was correct all the way - both in calling for transparency and for political responsibility. He did not need nine months to make a decision about the obvious. The fact that the Auditor-General referred to the lack of good governance in his report was simply a confirmation of this government's maladministration and not of any puerile conspiracy theories. Earlier on, the Ombudsman also hailed the principles of the Good Governance document, simply because it is founded on the same basic principles.
The resignation of a Minister is good news for no one. It is certainly bad news for the government but it is also bad news for the political class in general. Trust ratings in politicians had already been on the decline and this is yet another blow. Unfortunately, restoring trust in politics and political institutions returned to the top of the political agenda as soon as the new Labour government went up the stairs of L'Auberge de Castille.
Simon Busuttil's Nationalist Party is the party proposing to raise the bar. In fact, as already argued elsewhere, the hundred or so Good Governance proposals presented by the Nationalist Party have the two-fold objective of setting higher standards for future Nationalist governments and halting the steady regression of the present Labour government.
The only response from the party in government has been a puerile attempt at character assassination, which only serves to cover up and reinforce the current state of corrupt practice. Scandals such as those involving Strada Zekka, Café Premier, Malta visas for Algerians, Identity Malta's residence permits, the rape of Zonqor Point and the sale of Maltese passports amongst others have rapidly turned our country into a Mecca of corruption.