The Opposition’s policy paper on good governance has shifted the tectonic plates of Malta’s political landscape, significantly so, and the Prime Minister did well last Sunday to have accepted to discuss at least the issues raised that were of a constitutional nature within the upcoming Constitutional Convention.

After the 2013 general election defeat that was so heavily tinged with allegations of corruption against the incumbent, and after the utter failing of this government to take corruption and good governance head-on despite numerous electoral pledges, the Opposition on Sunday threw the gauntlet at the Prime Minister’s feet with its far-reaching policy paper on good governance – a first for the country in terms of subject matter, breadth and scope.

In the process the opposition has pulled the good governance rug from under the government’s feet.  And as such, he had but little choice but to take up the good governance challenge.

Reacting to what was a new bar set with the Opposition’s 109-point good governance document, the Prime Minister has said that those changes being proposed that were of a constitutional nature could be discussed within the remit of the upcoming Constitutional Convention.

Although the Prime Minister has been speaking of holding such a convention since back in his opposition days, when he spoke of creating a second republic through the convention, little has been said of it since the 2013 election - except for the government’s announcement of the appointment of Franco Debono, the opposition’s bête noir, as its chairman.

It is extremely positive that the Prime Minister has invited Dr Busutill to withdraw the Opposition’s reservations on the holding of a constitutional convention so that discussions on the constitutional reforms that the opposition is clamouring for can be held within an appropriate forum.

What is not so positive is the fact that the government had appointed a highly divisive character as the convention’s chair – a person the government knows full well is a persona non grata as far as the party is concerned, given the strife and turmoil of the Nationalist Party’s last year of the last legislature.

If there was any sincerity to the Prime Minister’s invitation, he would have invited the Opposition leader in for talks on their differences vis-à-vis the convention.

This did not happen, and with the Opposition apparently dead set against Dr Debono chairing the convention – given his more than chequered history with the opposition party - it is clear that the Prime Minister will later be able to turn around and accuse the opposition of having refused to play ball.

Yet another tit-for-tat Kafkaesque situation that benefits the people in no way whatsoever, earns cheap political points and obstructs the very essence of what is up for discussion: bettering the country’s governance. 

And in so doing, the Prime Minister is dismissing a truly unique opportunity to bring both sides of the political spectrum together in a joint effort toward something truly meaningful for the country.

It is hoped that the PN’s and PL’s differences of opinion over the composition of the Constitutional Convention, and other teething problems that may be holding it back, are thrashed out so that both parties can work together on good governance, which is, after all, the epitome of the national interest.