The Nationalist Party is asking the electorate to send a message to the Prime Minister regarding his way of doing things. True, next Saturday’s election is first and foremost an election to elect members to the European Parliament and, to that end, the Nationalist Party is presenting a formidable team of candidates. Nonetheless, these elections are happening within a context.

Labour’s first year in government was one characterised by a lack of direction and sheer arrogance, which led to blunders such as the sale of citizenship debacle and the premature candidature of Cyrus Engerer. The Malta Taghna Lkoll electoral slogan has become nothing but a joke – and a very popular one – on the social media. However, it is not only Nationalists who are being excluded by this government but also genuine Labour voters who are not part of the restricted clique that includes party officials and members of their family tree. It has now been discovered that this government has been politically discriminating between the sick – that is, between those who can avail themselves of the limited stock of state-funded medicine: simply obscene.

On the 25 May, Malta will still wake up to a Joe Muscat-led Labour government but its direction, attitude and way of doing things will pretty much depend on the vote of the day before. A yellow card may be appropriate, should one wish the government to stop this in-your-face attitude, steamrolling over everyone on every issue.

The costliest Cabinet in history

 Joseph’s cabinet of ministers is costing €20 million per year, which is an €8.5 million yearly increase on Gonzi’s cabinet costs. The latest revelation is that, to complement the largest and costliest Cabinet in history, the government's back bench will cost the country more than €1 million over and above the Parliamentary honoraria in various “positions of trust” or new posts created for the purpose.

This was made possible thanks to the lifting of a prohibition on Parliamentarians occupying posts on government boards – through one of the very first Acts passed by this Parliament. There were strong justifications for this long-standing policy: it reinforced the separation between executive and legislative and reduced the risks of political intrusion into deliberations that should be entirely technical. But constitutional and theoretical niceties are of no concern to the government and its MPs and anything that once stood in the way of more politically-tinged appointments has now been removed. We will now splash an additional €1 million for such posts as “Chairman of the Consultative Committee on the South” or the “Commissioner against Bureaucracy” – stuff which could be straight out of Yes, Minister.

Labour’s family tree

To add insult to injury, the top and most lucrative government posts seem to have been reserved for the ministers’ and party officials’ immediate family and close relatives. Former GWU officials, the “privileged” partner of the Labour party, which seems to hibernate every time we have a Labour Government in office, have also had their fair share of the cake. So the Labour MP gets eight jobs while Malta has 8,000 people unemployed. The former GWU official gets a top post while the worker he supposedly defended is still working in precarious conditions. The MEP candidate has two lucrative consultancies while the man in the street has to content himself with a 2c cut in the price of petrol, announced with much pomp and fanfare by the same government who kept secret much more important deals and contracts. After just over a year in office, this government can only resort to throwing a few pennies to the crowds to justify its actions.

Soldiers of steel

The de-selection of Cyrus Engerer, barely two weeks before Malta votes for its MEPs, is a telling example of how Labour goes about choosing its candidates.

Engerer had been a Nationalist Deputy Mayor before deserting the Party, ostensibly over the position it took in the divorce referendum. When criminal charges were first brought against him in 2012, the whole story was spun as being the Nationalist government going all nasty on someone who had freely exercised his right to choose and change his political affiliation.

That narrative has now been thoroughly debunked by events. No matter how many conspiracy theories Labour conjures up – some of which are only missing the Knights Templar to have all the elements of a Dan Brown novel – if Engerer was one of the "star" candidates he’s now definitely one of the falling variety.

Comment is free but facts are sacrosanct

Let’s go through the facts. Engerer entered his ex-boyfriend’s home with a key that was still in his possession, downloaded compromising photos from his ex-boyfriend’s PC and anonymously emailed a number of these photos to his ex-boyfriend’s employer. And on top of that, the victim was threatened with further blackmail if he did not drop charges.

Despite Labour’s accusations, the way the police, the Attorney-General and the presiding magistrate acted in this case is beyond reproach. Still, regardless of whether or not the police decided to prosecute or the magistrate to convict, Engerer’s behaviour was appalling and it is made worse by the other roles he holds.

Engerer is a consultant to the Ministry of Civil Liberties, hardly the best choice to impart advice on liberties such as the enjoyment of privacy in the home and in the most intimate private aspects. He is also staying on the government's LGBT consultative council (and, in all likelihood, as the Party's poster boy for the same) despite having committed a crime that seeks to damage its victim by tapping into homophobic prejudices.

Labour’s way of doing things

Labour has done nothing beyond the barest minimum step of removing Engerer from its list of candidates. He still holds his other roles for which the crime of which he has been found guilty makes him obviously unfit.

It is hardly the first case since Labour was voted into office. Stories of people who have been promoted well beyond their abilities or qualifications – or expected standards of behaviour – have become all too common under the current government.

Mr Puli is the Shadow Minister for the Family and Social Solidarity