Aren’t we a lucky country. In its century of representative government and democratically-elected parliaments, Malta has never had a Member of Parliament, still less a Cabinet Minister, who spent even one day in jail (save for Labour MPs in the 1960s in connection with civil unrest). We have been blessed with Parliamentarians and Ministers of State of the highest integrity and honesty.

Not like our Italian neighbours, whose Mani Pulite investigation in the 1990s revealed what became known as Tangentopoli, resulting in the demise of the First Republic, and the extinction of most political parties of the time. It involved thousands of public figures, but once again few prominent ones, even if the charismatic Socialist leader, Bettino Craxi, spent his last years in self-exile in Tunisia. 

Malta has been lucky as corruption has been unknown on our shores. There was only one politician, the Labour Minister Lorry Sant, who was about to have been indicted, but Divine Providence intervened and, being terminally ill, the then Nationalist administration decided to withdraw all charges against him.

Had there been even the slightest stink of corruption, our redoubtable Police would no doubt bring the offenders to justice. Such is our squeaky clean reputation and zero tolerance to anything smelling untoward.

Enough sarcasm.

Let’s get real and hold our politicians to account, without fear or favour. This isn’t a football match where the blues swear that it was a penalty whilst the reds are certain it wasn’t. Corruption is funded by taxpayers. Corruption isn’t new to our shores. It existed when Mater Dei was constructed, in the Bus Ticketing case, and now in almost every project under Joseph Muscat’s regime. The only difference is that this was the first time corruption emanated from Castille.

With the Labour Party certain to be re-elected, there is only one way forward for the country and the Party: a total repudiation of Muscat and his acolytes. This country needs justice and if Prime Minister Robert Abela is unable to deliver it, he should stand aside. We need atonement and redemption. We need institutions that work.

The first needs to be the State Prosecutor and the Malta Police Force. We simply can’t afford to have puppets any longer.

The Malta Financial Services Authority has appointed an Irishman as its new Chief Executive Officer in a bid to fix the mess left behind. Perhaps this example should be followed by the police and the State Advocate’s office.

We need a prosecutor from the private sector who does not have his or her strings pulled by Castille, someone who investigates without fear or favour. This is such a sensitive office – one that has failed miserable at bringing corrupt politicians to book over the past years – and things need to change fast.

No longer can we tolerate inaction by these two institutions.

While the current Police Commissioner was appointed, for the first time ever, through a public call, and while he has to deal with the backlog emanating from the inaction of several of his predecessors, we need to see things start to move.

We understand that investigations are ongoing, and that financial crime investigations are long and painstaking processes that also depend on the cooperation of other jurisdictions, but it is unacceptable that, years after politicians were named in some of the biggest scandals this country has ever seen they have not yet been prosecuted.

Last week, some readers expressed surprise and disgust when this newsroom revealed that the new MFSA chief has been given a €162,000 yearly package, but the truth is that this is what needs to be done – to find competent individuals who carry no baggage and have no political ties, and to pay them well for what they do, ensuring that they perform their duties without interference and distractions.

We also need to see some proper integrity from our political parties. If our electorate is intent on supporting a corrupt regime, we must at least ensure that the Labour Party clears its own stables.

There are several historical antecedents for this, and Robert Abela has kicked people like Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi out of the party, but others, like Joseph Muscat, seem to be untouchable. Despite all the scandals, the reputational damage, the grey listing and the damning outcome of the public inquiry, Abela is unwilling to truly distance himself and the PL from his predecessor.

Kicking Muscat out of the PL is, as painful as it will be for the party, absolutely necessary for the PL, the government and indeed the country to show that it is truly moving away from the bad ways of the past.