It strikes me that people are turned off not just by rogue politics or fake politicians but more so by the hidden agendas that they defend so arduously.  The job of the journalist is often to get to uncover that reality.  Getting to it also generally means inserting yourself into the story or bigger picture, digging and revealing uncomfortable truths.

Like an addict who goes to great lengths and resorts to all sorts of deceptions and fantasy in order to hide their habit, the organisation of government often works like a mad machine churning out fabrication after fabrication, one after another. 

Owen Bonnici’s Media and Defamation Bill is one where the hidden agenda is precisely to stop journalists inserting themselves into information which government would prefer to keep hidden.  Build a wall.  The thing is, though, that good journalists can smell a story, can piece it together and can work out who and what is responsible.  That is why there are awards in journalism.  Mary Mapes is an award-winning television producer and reporter based in Texas. In a twenty-eight-year career spent primarily with CBS News and 60 Minutes II, she received a 2004 Peabody Award for an investigation revealing abuse at Abu Ghraib prison, plus numerous Emmys and Gracies, as well as awards from the Society of Professional Journalists.

Mapes is the author of  Truth and Duty:  The Press, The President, and the Privilege of Power. 

In 2005, she was fired from CBS for her part in the Killian documents controversy where she produced a segment for 60 Minutes Wednesday that aired criticism of President George W. Bush’s military service, supported by documents purportedly from the files of Bush's commanding officer, the late Lieutenant Colonel Jerry B Killian. The 60 Minutes report charged that Bush, the son of an ambassador, congressman and future president, had received preferential treatment in passing over hundreds of applicants to enlist in the Texas Air National Guard. Then-Texas Lieutenant Governor Ben Barnes said he had made phone calls to get Bush into the Guard.

A veritable army is created to keep a lie running and to prevent a breakdown in the mechanics of hidden agendas.  It takes courage and a vocation to endure the attacks aimed at discouraging journalists from pursuing a story of national interest.  For its part, the government, rather than working to serve the people as its purpose and duty, single-mindedly devotes its energy and resources to its own self-serving interest – that of keeping hidden what is does not serve them to divulge.  Scandals, corruption, laziness, inefficiency, nepotism, clientelism, privileged corporate agreements, redacted contracts and vote catching at any cost. 

On an ordinary level this is manifested in, for example, the traffic issue.  What are they covering here so that even simple changes are not made that can bring about an improvement in the situation?  An incompetent minister?  A preferred contractor?  A tailor-made tender?  Fortunately I do not have to drive much but I do need to get to the airport quite often and inevitably get stuck for an unreasonable amount of time just to clear the small stretch from off Aldo Moro road on the right lane to cross over past the lights onto the road going up to the roundabout.  Is it possible that something cannot be done to alleviate this problem? 

I am sure that similar cases are to be found replicated in several intersections over the island.  Rob Peter to pay Paul is the only design they come up with here in Malta.  That is because people are not treated equally.  If everyone was treated equally then there would be equal distribution of traffic flows, equal attention to all areas of the island, including secondary roads in residential areas which now serve as main arteries and where not even a traffic light or indeed, zebra crossing, can be found.  Old College Street in Sliema coming off Birkirkara Road is a case in point.

There would not be abuse of building permits.  The Police would be impartial and do their job of investigating crimes and criminals and bringing them to justice.  There would be no need to have the new Electrogas power station.  Resources would be fairly distributed. 

The ferry service to Gozo would have been revamped and new boats added.  What is keeping the fast ferry service from starting?  The parting of the seas? 

Our beaches and shore-lines would be protected and enhanced with respect to the environment.  The site of the Jerma Palace would be turned into a public space.  Spring hunting and trapping would be abolished.   New schools would be built. 

Criminal libel would be struck off the law books without all this rigmarole.  Religious vilification would be protected.  Public transport would be a number one project aimed at long term viable solutions.  Our constitution would be upheld.  Migrants would be treated justly.  Fake appointments costing thousands of euros a year would be refunded to the people and the money put to good use.  Funds from the European Union would be well invested in projects for the people and the good of the country.  What is black would not be called grey or white.  Those who suffer in silence would get the remedies they need to overcome their difficulties and get better.  Those who have harmed the good of this country would be brought to account. 

For this reason, if Joseph Muscat is so compromised with hidden agendas that he dared not remove Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri, then the whole government should resign now and call an early election.  It is the least they can do if they have nothing to hide. The writing is on the wall.  Any change in the responsibilities of the EU Presidency committees can only be welcome, when the same people who are to blame for shaming us are currently leading these committees.  There are competent and experienced people, not comic book characters, who can take over. 

In this regard, even if the Opposition is not as ready as it may aspire to be, to face an early election, being honest with the people means putting their interest first and calling for this government’s resignation.  They cannot call for it too soon.  There can be no hidden agenda here either. 

And the rest of the independent MPs and the minor parties need to stand up and be counted and get their act behind the one Opposition that can contest this election and win.  What are they waiting for?  What is in their agenda that is not honest enough to say “here we are”?   Bring out your candidates, lock in your policies and start winning.  Perfection is the enemy of success.  Look at the mess that Italy are in because every party seeks its own agenda rather than how it can present an alternative to the people.  If you cannot agree on cohesion when it is needed, how sincere are you really in meeting the needs of the public?

Ready or not, honesty is honesty and is always the best policy and the people have an antennae for this sort of thing.  Ask them to get behind you, even if you are not yet well funded or if you have not yet achieved the synchronisation you intended and you will find them there, ready to back you. 

Truth and Duty calls.