A court of law was told a few days ago that a man felt “pressured” to help people pass the driving test because they were working in a villa that belonged to a government minister.

The revelation was made as three Transport Malta officials were charged with helping learner drivers cheat in the theory exam. All three denied corruption charges when they were brought before the magistrate last Monday. The case will continue in the coming months.

The government minister was not named in this particular sitting. Neither do we know, as yet, when this incident happened. The investigation started two years ago, which means that it straddles two Robert Abela governments. Maybe more details will be made public when the next court sessions are held.

Sitting ministers and others who occupied the post before the election, who have been asked about their potential involvement, have all said they know nothing. They either denied being the “minister” in question or professed their ignorance about the matter until it was exposed in court. 

The arraignment is yet another blemish on the administration.

It is added to a very long list of scandals that, week after week, have emerged over the past years. Sadly, many of them were not tackled in the right way and, too often, no action was taken.

Until now, government has remained silent on the incident. We do not know if the current and previous Cabinet members have been questioned privately in the inner circles. We do not know if one of them admitted to using political influence. We do not know if Prime Minister Robert Abela has personally intervened to seek the truth, or is waiting for developments, maybe for the minister to voluntarily speak up.

What is sure is that there has been no official reaction from the OPM. All that was said is the OPM is “not aware of any charges having been issued against any government minister or of any pending judicial proceedings”.

But that’s not really the point.

The whole issue runs deeper than this, mostly because it is quite unlikely that a minister will ultimately face the music. Others have done worse and nothing happened to them.

It’s about the influence and power ministers exert, which goes to the extent that employees of entities run by the government feel that they have to oblige. One then wonders what people who work directly under a minister feel.

This is all part of the god-like attitude that some ministers adopt and the god-like status that they are given by members of the public who are obsessed with politics and who believe that “their” minister should be served in full. If the minister wants it, the minister should have it.

We must also extend what allegedly happened at Transport Malta to other government agencies and entities. If officials feel “pressure” from a minister to enable people to pass a driving test, then it is more than probable that there are many others – employees of other government bodies and departments, or people who are placed on boards – who feel compelled to please on far more serious issues.

On this particular case, the Prime Minister has the duty to get to the bottom of the situation. On a political level, what was revealed in court last Monday has caused damage to the administration, and the minister responsible, whoever that is, must pay the price. Only if this happens will Abela gain credibility.

Then again, history has taught us that politicians who have committed unpardonable mistakes continued to be revered, and were even re-elected. Some of them were defended by the head of government and their colleagues on the Cabinet. So perhaps it would not be a surprise that, even when the minister’s name is revealed, he or she will remain in place as if no wrongdoing had taken place. If ministers shamed Malta on the international stage and kept their place, cheating in a driving test is nothing in comparison.

That’s unfortunately the kind of culture that has permeated within our society. It’s a mentality that cost us dearly, but which seems to have ingrained itself and is hard to shirk off. Unfortunately, people have come to accept these situations as “normal”, when they are not normal at all.

The result of the last election shows that, in spite of all the scandals that rocked Malta in the last decade, the Labour Party continued to increase its advantage over the Nationalist Party.

That says a lot about the way the Maltese think in general and it also says a lot about the weakness of the Opposition.