During last week’s Parliamentary debate on the financial estimates of the Office of the Prime Minister for 2013, the Prime Minister was quoted as saying: “People have realised that we are in government to deliver on what we promised. The PN wants to change the subject to divert people’s attention from the budget.”

These two sentences caught my eye as they somewhat mirror the very essence of the way this administration has been operating since last March.

The first statement – the one about this government being one that delivers what it had promised – is belied by the second statement, insinuating that the Opposition is “diverting” public opinion away from the budget. The common thread that unifies these two is the dreaded Individual Investor Programme (commonly known as the ‘Passports for Sale Scam’).

If this is indeed a government delivering what it has promised, why didn’t it promise anything about the sale of citizenship prior to the general election? We were given petty details of a “costed roadmap”, down to the free tablets for children and then something as fundamental as putting our citizenship up for sale did not make it to the Labour Party’s election programme.

I think there are only few of us left who might doubt that this scheme was hatched prior to the election success. The way it has been set up in such a short time indicates that the groundwork had already been done before March. So there must be a reason why it did not make it to that tome entitled ‘Malta Taghna Lkoll’. Was it a matter of space? Did it get lost during the editing and proofreading process? Or was it because the PL could envisage the public outcry on such a vital matter?

Then there is the second statement about the Opposition diverting public attention away from the Budget. It is here that the PM loses the plot. The Citizenship for Sale scheme is included in the Budget as one of the measures that will generate revenue. It is the government that has put it in there. By doing so, it confirms that it has prosaically embraced the political philosophy of convenience rather than principles. In other words, by including this scheme as a mere revenue generation exercise, our government is being shown up for what it really is: a keen believer in the “quick buck” ideology. For the lot running our country, selling the nation’s soul is acceptable as long as it contributes to the bottom line of Malta’s Balance of Payments.

Rightly so, the Opposition is entitled – in fact it has a duty – to resist the enactment of this scheme that entails running Malta’s good name into the ground and shockingly upsetting all our EU partners in the process.

Did government representatives really expect the Opposition to be quiet on such an important matter? It is the role of the Nationalist Party to do all it can to stop this utterly despicable scheme from starting. It is a shame that even though some Government MPs share this opinion – and one of them publicly – they have all decided to blindly “trust the PM” and vote in favour.

After the PN Leader had accused him of being a salesman, the PM’s reported reply was that there was nothing wrong or shameful in being a salesman. “My job is to protect Malta’s reputation and create as many jobs as I can. And that is what I am doing.”

First, if the PM wanted to be a salesman, he could have gone on some private Italian channel selling mattresses, pots and pans. Running an EU state is not like selling a commodity to the highest bidder. The Labour Party must come out of the campaign mindset and start governing, for real! Is this the way the government is protecting Malta’s reputation – by whoring our national identity to those who can afford it? Is the government creating jobs by making our citizenship available to rich people, like some high-class escorts? “Protecting Malta’s reputation” is when a citizenship scheme is a serious one, based on internationally recognised criteria and strict restrictions, that ensure all possible loopholes for abuse are addressed.

The second aim to “create jobs” can be achieved if the adjudication of citizenship is tied to proper investment in Malta, with mid to long-term plans, thus contributing to Malta’s economic wellbeing and development.

Fortunately for all of us, the overall criticism, the public outcry, the negative polls and the complete PR fiasco in the international media has finally made the government shift from its initial position. This is probably because they realised, albeit a bit late in the day, that the whole sales pitch effort has backfired and the whole scheme will implode – and not because it was the right thing to do. But thank God for small mercies.

Ironically, it had to be the Minister responsible for the election manifesto who is also Deputy Prime Minister, to publicly announce that the names of those granted citizenship will no longer remain secret. It seems as if the powers that be had to see Malta’s name dragged in the mud before it woke up, smelt the coffee and did something about it.

Also, the criticism has made the PM say that that he would not shy away from a referendum on this issue, as he “was never afraid of the people’s judgement”. Well, it seems as if what was not good for the people to make a decision on last March (hence the complete absence of mention of this scheme in the election programme) is now a matter for the people to decide upon. I’m glad to see that a change of heart seems to be in the offing. Maybe it’s wishful thinking on my part, but if the polls are to be heeded and common sense is to prevail, it would appear that this scheme is set for a complete overhaul.

Should it be rolled out as approved by Parliament, our citizenship – our being Maltese – would suffer a severe devaluation, cheapening us all to become children of a lesser god – the god of money and convenience. Let’s hope we don’t have to go back to those days when holding a Maltese passport was nothing to be proud of.

Those of us from a certain generation still remember the green passport we had before it was changed to the current format. Do you remember the snide remarks and the suspicious looks by Immigration Officers all over the civilised world as soon as you gave them your passport for clearance? A cold shiver just went down my spine…

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