‘Il-Kenniesa tal-Kabinett’ (The Cabinet Sweepers), the group responsible for the banner calling for Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi’s resignation outside Parliament during its state opening a month ago, have called for proper legislation and mechanisms to combat the clear lack of accountability and clean governance that has plagued this country for “the last 30 years.”

This weekend marks a month since MPs were greeted with a large banner with the face of Mizzi with phrases such as; "Prison not Parliament", "korrott" and "hasil tal-Kabinet mhux ta' flus"

“We were so angry,” the group explained. “The fact is we believed that the Prime Minister would take action in 2013, and change the system we were all fed up with.

 “It has been like this for 30 years, from Ninu Zammit and John Dalli to now, we want to try and change things not only in the current government, but for the next 50 years to come.

“Why has the country, both under the PN and PL, never appointed a Cabinet whose members have an untarnished reputation and can be held accountable?”

Turning to the initial protest, the group claimed that their main target was to empower people, to make them understand that it was their right to protest against something they did not agree with, to speak up and try to change the current state of affairs.

“It’s not about going out after Sunday lunch with your placards.

“We had already planned it before the election, but there was another protest organised by the PN, and we did not want to associate ourselves with that.

“After the election, everything calmed down, but when we saw Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri reinstated in prominent positions, we just felt that we had to do something.

“We were hoping things would be different this time, that the Prime Minister would take action and redeem himself by removing the people who are being investigated, and have been proved to hold companies in Panama.

“When one considers the progress that has been achieved under the Labour government, Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri have let the country down.”

Mizzi, Schembri, and Muscat all remain subject to magisterial inquries. Asked about the prospect that the inquiry will be a transparent one, the group said that they “really hope so. If we had no faith, we would be more resigned, but we do have faith that the system will work. But there are a lot of things hampering the result of the inquiry.”

Turning to Mizzi specifically, the group said that other issues exist besides the serious corruption allegations.

“Teachers are in such low supply because they do not earn a decent pay. How can you tell someone that it is okay that Sai Mizzi gets paid more than what eight teachers earn for doing something we were given little information about?

“We also question the number of promotions and planning permits that were issued in the last few months.”

The group said that on the day of the protest, the police were non-threatening and told them they were within their rights to protest.

“We’re lucky that we live in a country where we are actually able to do something like this. The police made us feel very safe but it was a false sense of security because although we were told the banner would not be taken down,10 minutes later the police were pictured taking it down.”

The group are looking to crowd fund for further projects, since their goal is to empower people and create a platform free from connection to any of the political parties to achieve proper, sustained change – a link can be found on their Facebook page.

“Many people are also too scared to express themselves, to speak up, because of their jobs or whatever; people complain on social media, but they don’t want to get their hands dirty. We need to give people the voice they deserve. Unfortunately, every issue is too politicised that people are always made to pick sides.”

Corruption, bad governance, and a lack of accountability has reached an all time low and this can change the moral fibre of society, the group claim.

“This is a vision we want not only for this government, but for future Cabinets in the next 20 years.”

“The real goal is not to appoint a certain minister, but to have proper legislation to ensure clean governance and accountability.

“The government is setting a bad example by condoning corruption rather than punishing it. As children we were all taught that we should own up to our mistakes, but our government is appointing people under investigation as ministers and as chief of staff. We have police officers with criminal records being promoted.

“This is not an example the government should be sending to its people.”

The group claims that the passiveness and self-centredness of Maltese society has resulted in the present situation.

This, the group attributes, is due to a lack of political education.

“We’re all told about these international treaties and laws that are given vague titles: why are we not taught about these things?”