Gone are the days when we waited in front of the TV set, glued impatiently to learn whether the government’s procedure of bulk buying meant that the price of tuna would go up or down. They were days of anticipation which we very gladly have done away with but, in their strange way, they did offer entertainment.

It was a very rare occasion that we got to see our political leaders on the screen. As a child, I recall the loud man with the big buckle on his belt. His boisterous gimmicking and jibes made the men around him laugh and bang on the benches.

Today Parliament’s debates are transmitted through a special TV channel and politics is debated regularly on the numerous TV and radio programmes. The pre-budget document published after lengthy consultations with the major social partners was introduced by the PN government a decade ago. Budget day has become just another day, followed by a debate which extends over a period of three weeks.

This year is proving to be somewhat different.

First, we heard (while in the main parliament chamber) that there was a delay with the delivery of the documents. Once we had the budget speech in hand, we were relieved to learn it was almost half the length of last year’s.

As we went through the documents in hand, I had that feeling of what the Italians call “né caldo, né freddo”.  It gave me a feeling that some budget measures were placed there just to keep people happy. Take the UHM proposal on cooperatives. I am informed that this proposal has appeared in other budgets and magically always remains at the discussion and study phase.

We all expected better.

By Tuesday morning, the media had already said most of what it had to say until, that is, the unimaginable happened. Some elf at the Ministry of Finance put a document online which was withdrawn as soon as the media started quoting measures we had not heard the evening before. The Café Premier was “inadvertently” given to the Valletta Local Council while classic car owners were enraged because they would not be allowed to use their cars on the road during the week.

An official statement issued by the Department of Information simply informed the general public that this was “a genuine mistake” (as opposed, I guess, to the other mistakes this government commits that are deliberate).

The vintage car owners calmed down and the Valletta Local Council soon rejoiced because the government decided to give them the Café Premier anyway.

When Parliament reconvened on Tuesday night we faced a technical debate on a very important point. The document “mistakenly” placed online had been tabled in Parliament the night before and this had been minuted. The minutes themselves had been approved by all the members of Parliament and this demanded a ruling by the Speaker (who eventually ruled that it was the version read out by the minister that should count as the “real” budget).

Technicalities aside, the reality is simple. The budget speech and the document published erroneously had numerous discrepancies. Some proposals were omitted while others were added. This seriously questions the honesty, transparency and capacity for good governance of Muscat and his cronies. It also brings out the very obvious question – why did this happen?

Who decided to remove some of the measures? And why was this decision taken? Rumour has it that the cabinet members had huge arguments on who is going to give up what. It was probably the team we saw on the Finance Minister’s video who finally decided to cut down on the spending spree of a bunch of people who act like children in a candy store.

The days to come will continue to reveal more as we await for yet another episode of the tragicomedy by Joseph Muscat.