The Nationalist Party’s logic to boycott the process to appoint a new police commissioner is flawed, the abdication of duty a disservice to the country.

Earlier this week, the PN said it would boycott the Parliamentary grilling of Angelo Gafa – the Malta Police Force CEO who has been nominated by Cabinet to serve as Malta’s next police chief.

Its argument is that, by placing the commissioner on a one year’s probation, the government will be keeping the police boss on a tight leash and sack him if he dares investigate one of them for corruption.

To be fair, the Opposition cannot be blamed for thinking that the government could try to interfere in police work. We have seen, over the past seven years, how politically appointed police commissioners were reluctant to investigate cases of political corruption.

The reputation of the police force is now in tatters. Not only have cases like the Panama Papers and the leaked FIAU reports not been investigated, but the force is imploding as a result of a number of internal scandals, all of which are a result of bad leadership over the past years.

For the first time ever, we could have a police chief who, rather than being handpicked by a minister and announced in a DOI press release, is appointed through a more transparent process involving Parliament.

While the new system is not perfect, it allows for more scrutiny and distances the process from the political class.

Direct ministerial discretion has finally been removed, and candidates must go through three rounds of scrutiny – the Public Service Commission, Cabinet and Parliament.

The Opposition is involved in two of these - it is represented both on the PSC and in the Public Appointments parliamentary committee. So, it cannot say that it is not involved in the process, even it the government, with its democratic majority, has the final say.

The PN had wanted police chiefs to be appointed by a two-thirds majority, but its mentality now is showing exactly why such a system would never work. With this boycott attitude, the country would never be able to appoint a new police chief. Such a system could be abused and the Opposition (any Opposition) could use it to stall things until it gets its way.

The PN needs to realise that you do not get to call the shots when you are in Opposition, but you can still be part of the democratic process. The Opposition has a duty to hold public persons accountable and scrutinise new appointments. It does not have to vote in favour of the chosen candidate, but it must make its concerns heard during the process.

By boycotting the process, it is denying itself the possibility of saying ‘We told you so’ if the police chief mucks it up in future. It is only ensuring that the next appointment, like all others before it, will be purely a government choice.

It is also undermining Gafa before he even takes the hot seat, because it is essentially saying that he will be a government puppet.

This is not what the country needs. It is certainly not what the police force needs. Without wanting to shed doubts on Gafa’s abilities as a future police chief, many claims have been levelled against him over the past few weeks.

The Opposition has a golden opportunity to raise these issues during the grilling. It does not have to vote for Gafa, but it should at least take part in the process – a process which can be followed by the public and the media.

Yet we are being denied this opportunity because the Opposition decided to act like a spoilt child.

If it truly believes that the next police chief will be another puppet, the Opposition should stand up and say so and give reasons why. If it feels that he is not fit for the job, the place to say it is in Parliament.

The Opposition has a duty to scrutinise the person who will soon take up one of the country’s most sensitive jobs, yet it is choosing to walk off the field.

How can this be of benefit to the country?