Partit Demokratiku believes it is time for a rethink on how this country is run, with back-benchers stopped from holding positions on government boards ad companies.
In a statement, PD said that over the past years there has been a subtle but progressive and continuous drift in power towards the Executive and the Prime Minister’s office.
Our current constitution was written with the belief that all those in power would act with the interest of the country first and failed to take into account the human failings of greed, hunger for power and the need to control.
With back-benchers on the government side being appointed on various boards, their main function, which is to scrutinise the government, has been blunted as they are now part of the government system, the PD said.
With the Chairpersons of most regulatory boards appointed by the Prime Minister, and the majority of the members being government appointees, their ability to regulate has all but disappeared if the government or people linked to the government are involved. PA and MFSA are cases in point.
With the Police Commissioner and the Chief Justice, the guardians of justice and security in this country being directly appointed by the Prime Minister, it is difficult to believe they will be impartial if some mis-deeds become too close to home, PD said.
With the Attorney General being both public prosecutor and advocate for the government, which side will he take when one role clashes with the other?
With what has been, till now, effectively a two-party political system, the culture of clientelism and nepotism has become deeply ingrained in our society. This is blunting its progress as people tend not to work hard to achieve but grovel to those in power to do so instead.
PD believes back-benchers should not be allowed to hold posts on government linked boards and companies. We need to wrest control of the regulatory boards from the executive, with it choosing a minority of seats and civil society given a bigger share. We need Chairpersons to be appointed by parliament. The appointment of the Chief Justice and Police Commissioner should not be directly from the Prime Minister’s office. The office of the Attorney general should be split and a new one of Public Prosecutor created. The electoral system should be adapted to facilitate smaller parties entering parliament to act as checks and balances to the government.
We need to change the balance of power in this country so that it favours the people, not those who rule them, the party concluded