Malta achieved the status of a fully-fledged EU member only a few years ago – a status that entitles Malta to officially claim that it is a fully functioning democracy committed to the rule of law.
There is a great divide between saying so and being so and, embarrassing though it may be, EU membership has not, as yet, led to an upgrading of Malta’s ersatz democracy.
Disarmed democracy
In Malta, State authority is buttressed by arrogance and the interests of the average citizen are subordinated to those of the ruling politicians. The environment is such that democracy is disarmed and surreptitiously paralysed.
The recent Voice of the Mediterranean episode provided enough evidence to corroborate the above. The evidence came to light following investigations by the Auditor General that indicated gross irregularities relating to the management of public expenditure. Further documentary evidence was published in the press, reinforcing the Auditor General’s findings. The accusing finger pointed to a PN stalwart.
PN ministers and parliamentarians, and the party propaganda machine, were mobilised to fudge the issue. They questioned whether financial laws regulating public service expenditure applied to an entity that was co-owned by the government and Libyan interests. They questioned whether the Auditor General’s staff taking part in the investigations were qualified. There was even an attempt to launch an investigation into the Auditor General’s performance – never mind the fact that this raised serious constitutional issues.
Money down the drain
There was never a moment throughout the proceedings which focused on safeguarding the interests of the Exchequer and the taxpayers, with so much money going down the drain – or up in smoke!
After weeks of wrangling in Parliament, and fulminations in the press, the whole issue was left hanging in mid-air, eventually to fade from electoral memory.
If this is democracy, it is a spineless, impotent democracy, and one that does not glitter in the EU constellation.
This episode was no flash-in-the-pan. Over the years, under different administrations, there have been umpteen cases where serious allegations of corruption or charges of abuse of patronage have been raised. The standard operating procedure is for the Opposition to cry “foul” and for the government to run the gauntlet during a brief public outcry – after which life goes on, more often than not because a new “scandal” replaces the old.
The very latest super-scandal revolves around the BWSC contract relating to the proposed Delimara power station. The PN-led government has resorted to every trick in the book to evade a parliamentary or independent investigation into the very many queries and objections raised in Parliament or in the media. Democracy has faced a veritable stonewall.
Law without teeth
The upshot is that there are no effective standing arrangements to conduct independent, transparent investigations when serious complaints are made alleging corruption, abuse or incompetence – real or perceived. It is in this blatant manner that our democratic environment is polluted. This militates against accountability. It builds a protective wall for the guilty and the incompetent. In such cases, the law is without teeth and democracy is debilitated, even incapacitated, and deprived of its legitimate weapons for self-defence.
Perhaps the ruins of the former Royal Opera House provide the most convincing evidence of the above. Since the wartime destruction of that imposing edifice by enemy action, there have been umpteen projects to rebuild it. International design competitions have been organised and experts have been engaged – at considerable expense – to advise the government on how to proceed. At one stage, the theatre site was incorporated in a project conceived by Renzo Piano. Later on, the government toyed with a plan to build Parliament Building on the site.
No accountability
Heaven knows how many Ministers have held press briefings, posed for press and TV cameramen, and cut ceremonial ribbons throughout this process.
The total amount of public funds that has gone up in smoke over the years is incalculable, yet no one has been held accountable at any stage. So far, we have only the opera house ruins to shame the culprits.
All of this stems from a culture that has deep roots and has produced a warped political system that partly rests on dependence on votes for elections, which could mean favours or abuses, and is partly driven by arrogance.
Unpalatable truth
The unpalatable truth is that after joining the EU, we still lack the important structures that are part and parcel of democracy. We have democracy on paper because we have parliamentary elections and our government is elected by the people. From then on, in many respects, governance is the prerogative of the Executive, with ministers performing according to their whims.
While ministers are able to ride roughshod over people’s rights and democratic sensitivities, no one in government seems to bat an eyelid. Ministers perform according to their whims because, to them, accountability seems to have no meaning.
In the prevailing circumstances, power is concentrated in the hands of the elected Executive and, as far as the common citizen is concerned, real democracy is an abstract notion. What we have is a dictatorship of the majority.
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Unimpeachable evidence
We have the unimpeachable evidence of a PN stalwart and former President of the Republic, Dr Censu Tabone, who had time to pause and collect his thoughts when he retired from active politics.
His unadulterated conclusions in the Malta context, highlighted in Professor Henry Frendo’s biographical work (Censu Tabone – The Man and his Century) are eloquent enough:
“Political parties are essential to the workings of democracy, but these lack democracy within themselves, enthroning the leader almost as a god…Unlike other European countries, in Malta, even if some groups may share friendships, ideas or interests, there are no open factions, and any criticism of the leader would risk branding the critical or dissenting thinker as a traitor (sic). The hegemony and longevity in leadership, epitomised in the past by the ‘reigns’ of Gonzi, Borg Oliver and Mintoff, is seen as a decidedly negative factor, working in favour of the power-wielding caucus of ‘inner sanctum’ secretaries, advisers, businessmen, politicians and other confidantes – il-klikka tal-poter – to the exclusion of all others in the wings.
“A static sameness in authority aids and abets time-serving, parasitic elements [who] appropriate power, even if they represent no electorate; it emarginates talent and potential, while simultaneously reducing vigour and enthusiasm.”
Dictatorship of the majority
Dr Tabone held the view that “the system we have might as well be called ‘a dictatorship of the majority’, rather than one in which citizens’ views are really executed”. True democratic participation ought to imply that governments represent opinions in proportion to their strength.
Dr Tabone’s considered assessment, which first appeared in print 11 years ago, constitutes a telling, authoritative commentary on the way the machinery of democracy operates in these islands.
There is one slim, silver lining that has since brightened Malta’s democratic sky.
Civil society, and in particular non-government organisations, have been showing awareness of their democratic rights. Their advocacy has been militant. They are beginning to raise their voices in the streets and public squares.
They are bound to make their unmistakable presence felt in the ballot box and usher in a new dawn.
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