The picture of Malta that has now clearly emerged is one of a chaotic, contradictory, incoherent mess with serious repercussions hanging over it.

Incessantly now, one very important report after another has condemned the prevalent situation in Malta, whether it regards the Financial Services Authority as evidenced by the MoneyVal report, the rule of law and justice reported by the GRECO report and the Venice Commission criticizing the health of our democracy, besides the numerous visits to investigate specific issues by Committee MEPs of the European Union.

All have come to the same sad conclusion, that what is happening in Malta is not compatible with a normal, free, democratic and functioning member state of the European Union.  Matters taking place in the governance of our country have been brought to the attention of the EU Parliament by MEPs but not only.  The facts have spoken for themselves in what is a group of states working together in a Union.  Sharing of information by international organisations and institutions with common purpose, will naturally reveal the dis-function and the incoherence of the individual national system.  You cannot be a member of a society which upholds principals at its most central core and spirit and then act in isolation, without regard and accountability and strut around in arrogance and defiance and then claim to be the underdog.

The GRECO report (the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption) has not missed a single instance of corruption that has been a part of Joseph Muscat’s government from the first day of its administration.  All of it is there to give evidence to the protests, the claims, the disapproval, the accusations, the damage inflicted, the bad name now associated with our islands.  Certainly, this is not a conspiracy report.  It is not one that is prejudiced or influenced.  It is a scientific dissection of the state of health of our country’s management and one that fully condemns what the results expose.

The reports are all there, stacking up like old newspapers on the floor whilst we, as a country, continue in our schizophrenic mentality, on the one hand wanting to live in a democratic and accountable society, whilst on the other, completely negative, irresponsible and parochial in our attitude and response.

Once the facts build up to their natural conclusion, one that does not sit well the self-congratulatory image of Malta and the Maltese community, we raise our voice and revert to type.  That type is the one that has allowed all of this corruption to take hold of our highest institutions without problem, without indignation, with the approval of the electorate and the prioritizing of the economy above all else.

All the conditions for the favourable maturation of the compost heap is there.  So too is the rubbish that is thrown into it made up of corruption, lies, deceit and a host of potentially criminal activities and deliberate deviation of duty.   It has fermented.  But unlike a good compost that can give nutrients to the soil, this one never dries and continues to stink and rot. 

How can any change be achieved once the whole mentality is incoherent?  We can start at basic levels – the opposition.  Take a look at the shadow Parliamentary Members and their titles.  They are as vague, as opaque and as confusing as the hydra. It is almost as though they are constituted in such a way as to purposefully deviate from the Government’s ministries, so that they appear to snub the PL and have nothing to do with it, thereby disassociating from it.  In doing so they lose the ability to identify the problems and to keep track of every single instance when the Labour Party in Government did the complete opposite of what it had campaigned on during the two elections of 2013 and 2017.  They continue in their own little world, jumping on a train that has already left the station and waving to the driver to stop at the next junction.  Take a look at the list of MPs on the PN side and you will see that Simon Busuttil has no portfolio at all.  There is a blank near his name.  The thorny and serious portfolio of Justice and Good Governance has gone to the leader, Adrian Delia.  Good Governance appears again under Robert Arrigo.  Another hydra. 

It is no wonder that the people themselves fail repeatedly to look at the opposition as a credible alternative.  They simply don’t know where to look.  Do they look at the hard-working MEPs who get contradicted by the party they belong to?  Do they listen to the hard truths so well defended by Repubblika (independent NGO) and its members? Should they trust the party media that does not always do a good service to its members when ignoring important revelations and reports?  Indeed, the sporadic nature of the fight brought by the opposition fails to reach its target due to its incoherence and its inconsistency.  Which then allows a corrupt government and all those whose responsibility it is to ensure rule of law in Malta, to thrive in this putrid atmosphere. 

Many people have lost confidence in the party media and just follow some topics on social media.  The disconnect continues to grow and the freedom to get away with contortions of the truth and a pre-determined agenda of corruption carries on as normal and becomes normalized. 

That, after all, is what many people, whose sole interest is their economic progress, prefer to happen.  That too, is a characteristic that was identified by the opposition under its New Way leader and brought to the front of their party convention.  Nobody would wish to deny a single person the opportunity to economic good and gain.  But, to bring that to the front of the politics, like it exists in total command and authority above all other considerations is simply depriving the country of a chance for real change, that could secure both economic and constitutional reform.

We know by now that the Labour party and its protected persons and persons of trust, is one and the same as the Government of Malta.  Though the Commissioner for Standards did not find the law was broken in that Girgenti party held by Joseph Muscat and his wife, we had a good image of the mentality and disregard for any standards whatsoever in that cameo of petty celebration, what today is a meme on social media, often very accurately portraying cynical views of bad judgement.

It is this party, not this government that all those reports have to contend with.  In this regard, the PN tried to make the point but failed.  It is the Labour party in government that is responsible and so, Delia said, Malta should not be punished by enforcing Article 7 of the  European Union convention.  Only it came out like another hydra, whereby all criticisms and arguments against corruption in Malta were now to be dismissed because the people would suffer.  The truth is that the people are suffering because of that corruption.  But that corruption is the product of a Labour government, not of the kind of constitutional government our country had grown used to expecting.  And so the conflict of opinion and apparent contradiction arises.

The Council of Europe and the EU Commission may have to exert the kind of patience they have recently been demonstrating with the Brexit affair, whenever, too, we grapple with our own contradictions and mis-guided sentiments. 

When can we hope for a more transparent, multi-party and mature political discourse in Malta?  The agenda of any incoming party should be clear.  To make Malta clean again and steer us out of this dysfunctional place we have sunk into.  We cannot afford to miss a single beat of drumming back to the Labour government every instance of their failure to deliver on the values they campaigned on and the choice they made in choosing party loyalty over national interest.