Everyone has his or her job to carry out. The higher up the ladder you go, the greater the responsibility and the higher the stakes.

Accountability is a word or, better still, a concept that is not new in the political world. People decide to become politicians for various reasons. Some do so for the glamour, others to feel important, but most take up a political career to be of service to the people they represent.

They all know – or should know – that the found-ations for them to be successful in their political life is to work hard, do their best and, above all, do so without any hint of wrongdoing.

We are not talking about policies here. Policies can be agreed with or they can be shot down, and any decisions taken are bound to create political controversy as it is difficult, in many circumstances impossible, to reach consensus.

What we are referring to when we say “wrongdoing” is the “behaviour” of politicians in the strict sense of the word. Politicians must do everything right and must be perceived to be doing so, otherwise they risk losing their credibility.

Over the years, across the whole world, we have seen politicians ruined because they did something that did not fit in with what politicians should be doing. Many are those who have been shamed for abusing the power with which they were entrusted by the electorate. Others were forced to resign or were removed from office for a shortcoming that was not necessarily linked to their political post.

But resign they did, or removed they were, because politicians can never be seen to “misbehave”. Public perception of politicians is what makes a politician, and the tiniest mistake can be devastating. Their popularity takes years to mature and very few make it, but everything can collapse in seconds.

In Malta, it seems that matters are quite different. We have had our fair share of scandals, but resignations have been few and far between. Of course, not all incidents warranted a resignation or a removal – far from it. But there have been cases – and we are referring to several administrations – when politicians should have lost their job.

For one thing, political parties tend to rally around the beleaguered politician, giving him or her their support all the way and in spite of everything. Whereas abroad, political parties tend to distance themselves from politicians in trouble for fear of losing popular support as a party, here the parties’ strength can afford to sustain a politician in difficulty because it takes more than that to dent their popularity.

Elections in Malta have been won and lost not because of individual scandals, but because of measures that affect people’s way of life. Political parties in Malta have never been brought down because of a politician’s disgrace. If anything, it is the politician who has suffered individually by not being elected or by, at best, just scraping through.

The politicians who are then involved in some kind of scandal are themselves very reluctant to let go. They defend themselves by clutching at the proverbial straws and going on counter-attacks, very often blaming their detractors until the storm subsides, the media pressure quietens down and they can continue with their work. Their resistance, as said before, is boosted by the support they receive from the political party to which they belong.

Accountability does not mean resigning or being removed as soon as a scandal is made public, and with each scandal that emerges. It does, however, mean that politicians must be responsible for their actions, both in their political life and beyond it.

The culture of resignation and of removal from office is not predominant in Malta. But politicians should know when it is time to go.