This Sunday we have an opportunity to unite and voice our anger at the latest political developments which have shocked our country. This is the time when words become action.
Simon Busuttil and the PN are appealing to people of good will to participate in a national protest against corruption. It is a call to clean up politics once and for all.
By politics I mean ALL politics as practised by anyone and everyone. This is not just the day we will tell Muscat to clean his act immediately. It is also the day Simon Busuttil and many other politicians will publicly reaffirm their own commitment to do politics differently.
The good governance document published by the PN last December was almost prophetic. Of course none of us expected things to be so messy and dirty, when we had not even had three years of Labour in power.
Now that the Labour government has stooped so low, we really need a national effort to restore faith in our political system. If we don’t take this courageous step forward, our democracy will suffer. Soon it might simply be too late to repair the damage done.
If our action on Sunday is weak, Joseph Muscat, Konrad Mizzi and others of their ilk will think that, as a nation, this is the kind of politics we want or that at least we don’t object so strongly to it. I firmly believe that every nation gets the government it deserves. But we deserve better, MUCH better.
We cannot let politicians who believe that politics is a vehicle for financial and personal gain get away with it.
We cannot let new and old politicians aspire towards governing our country through secrecy and lack of transparency. This must be our red card to those who think that the power given to them through a democratic process is an “all-go” for them to do what they want with our country, with our money.
Sunday’s event is not just a protest against corruption. It is also a very loud call for good governance. When, on Sunday, we shall walk the streets of our glorious capital city, we must do it as a nation with our heads held high. Ours is a democracy, not a dictatorship or an oligarchy. Those thinking otherwise must understand this loud and clear.
No, not all politicians are like Konrad Mizzi and Joseph Muscat. This applies to the entire spectrum. There are members of the Labour side who need to see a big crowd on Sunday. They need to be encouraged not to look the other way. There will be a time when more members of this government will need to remember this Sunday’s protest to do what is right.
The honest men and women who sit behind Joseph Muscat in Parliament are not just uncomfortable with Mizzi and Muscat’s shenanigans. They are outright appalled. Those who aren’t appalled are naturally as dishonest as the Prime Minister and his deputy leader.
Our presence on Sunday will show that we are not indifferent but that we care. We owe it to those who fought for our democracy. We also owe it to ourselves and our children. We are a democratic European country which worked hard to be where it is now. A country which does not tolerate corruption and dirty politics.
This Sunday is the beginning of the end of an era. You can’t miss it. You must say #Iwillbethere.