It has become a characteristic of this government to say something and then do the opposite.

It appears to want to appease the public by indicating that it intends to do the right thing, but then its actions do not follow suit.

It has happened too many times not to be seen as being a Labour strategy.

There is a huge difference between what Labour – both as a government and as a party – says it wants to do, and what then it actually does.

Rosianne Cutajar

Take what happened with the Rosianne Cutajar case as one example.

The Standards Commissioner found that Cutajar had breached ethics when she served as a broker in property deals involving the man now accused of being a mastermind in the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. The commissioner had ruled that Cutajar “most likely” received a €46,000 brokerage fee – which she continues to deny; and a €9,000 payment, which Cutajar admits was a gift.

The Labour Party members on the Standards Committee agreed to endorse the report, which was the right thing to do. But then, when it came to the punishment, the PL representatives did not want to go beyond a “stern reprimand”, whereas the PN members insisted on a one-month suspension, which would have been more appropriate and would have set an example.

Labour’s argument was that Cutajar had already paid the political price by resigning from the post of parliamentary secretary. But the PL’s position – in favour of just a letter of reprimand – was too timid. And then it turned out that the letter itself, sent by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, was no “stern reprimand” at all. It was just correspondence informing her of the Standards Committee’s decision.

It was yet again a missed opportunity from the Labour end to show that it means business. The way things happened continued to confirm the culture of impunity that has been so evident since the Labour Party came to power in 2013. The stern reprimand Labour agreed to – with the Speaker on its side – was not enough in the circumstances, but not even this happened, as the letter Cutajar was sent was far from being a reprimand, let alone one which can be described as stern.

Konrad Mizzi

It was worse with Konrad Mizzi.

The party made a big deal of kicking him out of the parliamentary group, with Robert Abela saying that it was not a judgment from a legal point of view, but a political one.

Yet the PL continues to defend Mizzi to the hilt. We can see it happening during the Public Accounts Committee meetings, which have been dealing with the Electrogas power station deal Mizzi was responsible for at the time he was Energy Minister.

When Mizzi, for a time, was refusing to attend PAC sittings, Abela said that Mizzi should testify. But it is clear that Mizzi is still finding the Labour Party’s shield to protect him.

The PL does not even want to say if Mizzi is still a party member. He will not be on the candidates’ list at the next election, but on being asked whether Mizzi is still a party member, the PL chose not to reply.

Which is to say that he still is.

Public inquiry

It has been four months since the report of the public inquiry into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was published. That report had established that the State was to blame for the assassination.

In those days, Abela had said that he had not been PM at the time of the murder, but he had felt duty bound to apologise to the family and take responsibility. He had also said that the government would implement the board’s recommendations.

This was to be done after consultations are held with interested parties but, unless this exercise is being held in secret, no progress has been made.

For one thing, we are still waiting for the government to come up with the anti-SLAPP legislation. SLAPP suits are court proceedings intended to intimidate and silence critics, a measure that companies with financial means resort to in a bid to cripple media outlets and journalists. In early September we had reports that this legislation was to be presented “in the coming days” but, again, three months have passed and no action taken.

Tax evasion

The government says that it wants to combat tax evasion, but then it issues a legal notice which has been lambasted by several institutions as being an amnesty offered to defaulters at the expense of law-abiding citizens and entities.

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana insists that the legal notice is not a pardon, but a way for the government to collect at least part of the €5 billion it is owed in taxes. It is an incentive to push people who owe the government money to start paying it up.

But then, if the government knows it has €5 billion to collect, then it also knows who should be coughing it up.

Secondly, through this measure the government is rewarding defaulters while at the same time being discriminatory against those citizens and companies that have always followed the law and paid their dues.

Tax dues are being used as overdraft facilities, institutions that have opposed the scheme have argued. There is no level playing field if defaulters will continue to be allowed to flout the law and, instead of being punished, are let off.

Let us remember that one of the reasons why Malta has been grey-listed by the Financial Action Task Force is because of the government’s lax attitude towards money laundering issues. The government says that it is trying to take Malta back on the white list, but something like this does not help at all.

Covid-19

Covid-19 is rearing its head again. After what seemed to be a period of stability, in which both the number of daily cases and active cases remained low, both have risen rapidly in the past days.

The probability for this is that the government is sending a message and doing the opposite. Restrictions have not changed in the past month or so but it is clear that some animals are more equal than others – and protocols are not being followed everywhere as they should be.

Take the Sigma conference as the latest example. There were reports, which were not denied, of a laissez-faire attitude, with people not following the directives and no-one sent to carry out the necessary controls. The Prime Minister and Economy Minister Silvio Schembri were seen in photographs walking around without a mask. That’s not the example that they should have given.

The health authorities, then, seemed to close an eye, the same way they did when they were asked to reprimand Labour MPs for not wearing a mask during parliamentary sessions. Health chief Charmaine Gauci, always at the ready to point out the restrictions that need to be followed, was reluctant to answer questions as to why MPs are not wearing masks while children are being forced to wear one at school. Evidently, she is not up to admonishing politicians.

Health Minister Chris Fearne should be admired for sticking out among his colleagues by wearing a mask, but then he should be more forceful with them, and tell them to set the example. Unless, of course, he is telling them and he is just being ignored.

Other examples

There are other issues in which the government is saying one thing and doing the opposite.

Abela has said that the environment is a priority for the government, and close to its heart. But just take a look at what is happening around us – and not only in terms of construction – to see that this is not so.

Last Tuesday Abela went to Siggiewi to open a therapeutic centre where young people will seek rehabilitation from drug abuse. The day before, he had spoken in Parliament during a debate to legalise cannabis use for recreational purposes, which the government is pushing. The opening of the centre is an admission that cannabis use is wrong and people who become addicts need help; and yet the government is then seeking to make cannabis use legal. Is there a bigger example of hypocrisy?

One last thing – the government says that the traffic flow is improving. How’s that for a joke?