Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia this afternoon listed measures which, he said, will lead to better governance and a cleaner administration.
In a message on the PN’s media, Delia said that Malta needs to emerge from the crisis it is engulfed in, first by justice prevailing in the case of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, and secondly by removing anyone from the government and its administration who promoted corruption or lacked in duties.
The country needs to be built on righteousness, legitimacy and measures that clean politics.
Delia said that PM Joseph Muscat must not wait until January to resign, but he should go now. “He is compromised from head to toe,” Delia said. Until a few days ago he was still being given the benefit of the doubt, but after the developments of the past days “any vote of confidence in Muscat is a sign of complicity to corruption that took place under his watch and with his blessing.”
Delia said that all this is happening is a blow to Malta’s reputation. Without a good reputation, there can be no trust.
He said the PN is looking into the reasons why Malta is going through such a crisis, and part of the blame must be shouldered by the PN. “We have our own share of the mistakes and shortcomings,” he said. In 25 years of PN governments so much good was done, but “we never anticipated that someone would come after us and manipulate the country’s institutions to such an extent,” he said.
He said the PN is ready to give its contribution to put the country back in the right direction, drawing up a list of proposals that will lead to better governance and a cleaner administration.
The PN is proposing the setting up of a section in the Permanent Commission Against Corruption which will investigate cases of corruption and take them to court when necessary. The PN is also proposing the immediate halting of the individual investor programme.
The PN is also suggesting the creation of a fund to financially help independent media houses that cover national news. The way these funds are distributed should ensure that the media houses will continue to be absolutely independent of the government of the day.
Another proposal is that the Broadcasting Authority chairman is selected with a two-thirds majority, and public broadcasting becomes totally autonomous from the state,
Political parties should be financially aided by the state for them to fulfil their functions without them being dependent on others, so as to avoid any conflicts of interest.
MPs should be on a full-time basis and serve the country without being dependent on the government of the day. This will enable them to dedicate their time to research, analysis, consultations and reaching out to constituents, something they are unable to do if they remain as part-timers.
All backbenchers are to lose any job given by the government, as the Commissioner for Standards is suggesting.
The PN is also proposing that the Chief Justice is elected with a two-thirds parliamentary majority, and that the committee for the selection of judges is made up by four members of the judiciary, the Ombudsman, the National Auditor and the Standards Commissioner. This committee should then issue calls for applications and then chooses three names to submit to the Cabinet, which must decide from the names provided.