The rules that have been introduced in the sense that high offices of the state have to be endorsed by a two thirds parliamentary vote in favour have started to deliver results. As expected, they have been leading to an institutionl paralysis. No agreement is reached on nominations. No one manages to achieve an endorsement of two thirds. Offices are being left vacant.
All this happened after wise guys came to investigate Malta’s parliamentary democracy and prodded us to accept this “reform”. Anybody with minimal knowledge of Malta’s political record over the years would have immediately grasped how counter-productive this approach could be.
The Italian system – where the two thirds procedure is also applied – carries an additional measure which seeks to avoid this problem by ensuring that following a number of failed ballots, a nomination that gets just an absolute majority is adopted. A similar condition was not considered to be acceptable for Malta.
Both government and opposition do not look good when appointments to such offices as those of the Ombudsman and the Commissioner for parliamentary standards remain vacant for months on end.
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SANCTIONED
I never could understand... and with time, I’m understanding even less and less ... this administrative method we run in Malta concerning people who break the law and build without any permits whatseover where and how it is forbidden to build. The state should be telling them: Dismantle as soon as possible all you have put up. And you must pay a stiff fine for what you’ve been doing, otherwise you end up in jail.
Instead, this is what we tell them: Now be reasonable, please pay a fine (in most cases, it would be peanuts for the business interests involved), so that not only everything you have done is legitimated, but you can as well do good business with the assets in question.
Can one be surprised that this has given rise to an industry of professionals out to give advice regarding how such sanctioning can be achieved? And apparently new regulations are in the pipeline which will continue to promote this tawdry practice!
On the other hand, should a worker put up a cabin on the roof of his house for his family to use as a washroom, then in double quick time he is obligated to remove the whole structure.
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LULA IS BACK
Lula is back as President of Brazil. Not so long ago he was in jail, sent there by courts which had found him guilty of corruption. The same courts later cleared him of the charges.
I still think the whole affair should be clarified from the ground up. Did Lula really have issues which needed to be investigated? Was the legal mechanism which led to his being jailed ... the so-called “washing machine”... a valid and serious approach or was it just intended as a political tool?
Beyond these queries though, the election of Luis Inacio Lula da Silva as President of Brazil gives hope. Once again the country will be led by a person who cares about the lower income strata of society and who is ready to take effective action to defend their interests.
Leading the country, there will be a person who is committed to the defence of the Amazon from the exploitation which is ruining it, with disastrous consequences for all of us in the future.