Last Sunday’s outspoken editorial comment in this newspaper raised the national debate on the government’s performance to a new level.

In so doing, it brought Prime Minister Gonzi to the heart of the argument, where he belongs, and it proceeded to argue from the national perspective.

It held that “what the country was not prepared for was the spectacle of a government with scandals of all sorts erupting from within it, scandals not created or spun by the Opposition, but rather self-inflicted”.

It referred to comments “about the sheer casualness of it all, just like the background to what is known as the judges’ case: you pay, you cut corners, you get away with it” and then it made its point.

Defects of judgement

It went on to say: “Last week, this newspaper said the whole affair is leading people to ask if Dr Gonzi is losing his grip. Nothing that has happened since then has militated against this judgement: on the contrary, the whole issue, as it continues to evolve, is bringing out hitherto unsuspected defects of judgement in Dr Gonzi’s leadership”

The Malta Independent on Sunday registered its view that “up till a month ago, this country still had a very high opinion of Dr Gonzi, not just that he is incorruptible and honest, but that he would not tolerate the slightest whiff of sleaze around him.

“But we now have fairly accurate reports that he chewed Mr Mugliett in private, but then concluded that, while Mr Mugliett committed an error of judgement, his resignation was not accepted. How come? Ministers are holders of political office for their judgement, not for any other ability they may have. If a minister commits an error of judgement that is precisely the reason why time-out should be called for him.”

The above summary is encapsulated in the heading of The Malta Independent on Sunday editorial comment, which read “Broken promises and sinking in sleaze”.

That there has been an eruption of sleaze during the past month or so is undisputed. The government, which has been in office for the best part of the last 20 years, committed itself to eradicate corruption root and branch long ago. It failed, and the monster has been aggressively raising its head of late.

Unexpected new element

An unexpected new element has featured in the raging controversy that preoccupied Parliament and the media over the past fortnight or so. It relates to requests for presidential pardons by miscreants accused of sleaze, and convicted by the courts.

Mr Mugliett’s troubles took a serious turn when he was found to have “intervened! in the case of an ADT official who had been prosecuted, found guilty and banned from holding public office for life, and who subsequently applied for a presidential pardon. This gave rise to furious controversies as to whether Mr Mugliett’s version of events was credible, and whether or not he had misled Parliament with one of his earlier versions.

Apart from all this, Mr Mugliett’s intervention was made in light of the fact that the application for a presidential pardon was based on precedent – someone else had earlier asked for and was granted, a presidential pardon in similar circumstances.

This bit of knowledge is a ticking time bomb. No one seems to have known about it before Mr Mugliett’s subordinate made his plea to the President.

A presidential pardon is conceded on the advice of the government – and the question has arisen as to whether the Cabinet has, at some indeterminate recent date, advised the President to grant a pardon to a public servant accused of bribery.

Unanswered question

This apart, there is a more immediate unanswered question: Why hasn’t the government given short shift to the latest application for the President’s pardon sight unseen, instead of making it possible for it to be “archived”, which, in Mr Mugliett’s own parlance, means “this is being put away and not decided for the time being” (The Times, 10 July, page 13).

If Mr Mugliett is correct, it means that, for all Dr Gonzi’s strong language about the government’s determination “not to tolerate abusers of the public administration system”, the last word hasn’t yet been said after the courts had found Mr Mugliett’s subordinate guilty of corruption.

What is Dr Gonzi waiting for before this straightforward issue is resolved?

jgv@onvol .net