A full-time Parliament which assesses and scrutinizes government and an anti-corruption agency were among the 20 proposals put forth by NGO Repubblika, Occupy Justice Malta and Manuel Delia for "a clean Republic".

The groups addressed the media on Thursday.

Repubblika President Robert Aquilina and Delia spoke about the 20 proposals which manifest 20 reforms they said government must push on the national agenda, as the reality is that little discussions on a national level are being held to address current issues Malta is plagued with.

For the commemoration of the six years since journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder, Aquilina said that the proposals focus on the system failures which facilitated her assassination, and which exist till today.

"The 20 proposals are ideas the country should consider as priorities to cure the country of the illness it currently suffers," Aquilina said.

He said that the organisations wish to dialogue with political parties on the proposals, to include them in their electoral programmes.

Manuel Delia, who is also a Repubblika executive official, explained the proposals which he described as "modelled on laws which exist, are normal in other countries, can be executed in a short amount of time, and are simple as we can model them from others."

The first proposal is to have a full-time Parliament which scrutinises government, and keeps government accountable, an issue which is a pending recommendation from GRECO and the Venice Commission reports, and which have not been touched upon in Malta, Delia said.

The proposal entails reforming Parliament in order to provide it with the tools and independence needed to be able to exercise vigilance over government and control its conduct.

The proposal also calls for a full-time Parliament so that even members of the party holding a majority in Parliament would not depend on government for their living, and truly represent their voters, not the government, a document containing the proposals read.

The second proposal calls for surveillance over members of Parliament - in the case of a breach of the code of ethics, to be conducted by someone outside of politics with competence and experience on ethical behaviour, "providing independence and transparent vigilance". The Westminster parliament model could be used, Delia suggested.

The third proposal calls for an agency to fight corruption, as the Permanent Commission against Corruption has been deemed ineffective, they said.

Delia said that in the 33 years this Commission has existed, not a single case led to a conviction, making it clear that this institution does not work.

"We need an agency with the power and initiatives to fight corruption, and also educate the community. There is a culture, which was brought in by bad example from the very top, that one can be part of the corruption or tolerate it because it suits them," Delia said.

The proposal calls for an agency with the resources to investigate and the power to start prosecutions, instead of the Commission. It calls for resources which are needed to educate the public about the rights and duties of every citizen to fight corruption.

The fourth proposal calls for true protection of whistleblowers, with Delia saying that there are large defects in the current whistleblower law, one of which is that the decision for protection of a whistleblower is in government's hands, despite instances where the whistleblower has the potential to uncover government misdeeds.

"The government should not have any control over whether a whistleblower should be protected from repercussions by Government itself," the organisations said.

The fifth proposal calls for full-time inquiring magistrates, to which Repubblika acknowledged that government took a step in the right direction in this regard, to have magistrates solely focusing on inquiries.

Delia said that what is important, however, is the resources, and the proposal also calls for a team of judicial police officers who have the power to gather proof, to help the magistrates.

The organisations insisted for a "truly serious quality of prosecution" in the country in their sixth proposal, with Delia saying that the Office of the Attorney General's success rate in prosecutions is "absurd," and "very low", and there is the need for investment towards resources, and training for the country to have the best lawyers in its prosecutor's office.

"The state should train and provide adequate pay to those who dedicate their lives to ensuring that justice is done with victims and society," it said.

The seventh proposal calls for a limit on the amounts contractors can provide to political parties for financing, and that financing of political parties should be better controlled by independent surveillance.

On this, Delia said that practically 99% of the financing of political parties is private financing, making the party a "slave of their interests." He said that the proposal does not call for banning of private financing, but for serious consequences for those who hide that they are breaking the law.

The proposal entails that most of the financing they receive should be paid for by the state according to objective criteria. Anyone trying to hide illicit donations should be imprisoned, it said.

The eighth proposal calls for public appointments to be made by fair competition, and those made by government for persons of trust should be limited and clearly defined. Any other appointments should be open to competition and choices should be made according to objective criteria of competence and experience, and not loyalty and closeness to a minister or a party, the organisations said.

The ninth proposal calls for a halt to the sale of Maltese citizenship.

"Citizenship is a right for the poor as much as it is for the rich and should not be a product that may be sold to millionaires," the organisations said.

The tenth proposal calls for an anti-mafia law, which was among the recommendations from the public inquiry into Caruana Galizia's death, where it showed that there is an infiltration of the mafia in politics, Delia said.

"Not only those who pull the trigger are guilty of a crime. Anyone who gets rich through their association with a mafia organisation forms part of the mafia and deserves to go to prison," the proposal says.

The organisation called for the need for a law against organised crime to catch whoever publicly hides their wealth while enjoying the wealth deriving from crime accomplished by others in his/her name.

The 11th proposal calls for the confiscation of unexplained wealth, and that if anyone enjoying this wealth cannot prove legitimate sources, they should be presumed to be benefitting from illicit wealth.

This wealth should be taken from the person following trial in court, even if the obtention of this wealth through criminal means is not yet proven, they propose.

The 12th proposal then calls for this wealth confiscated from criminals to be invested back into the community, for social initiatives that compensate from the damage done by the criminals.

The 13th proposal calls for real public broadcasting, "free from government." It entails regulating the public broadcasting by a law that ensures independence from government, they said.

"State broadcasting should have the best journalists and presenters/broadcasters who critically and assiduously exercise vigilance on the behaviour of the people in power and give voice to minorities and the marginalised," they said.

The 14th proposal calls for political parties and broadcasting to be separate from each other.

"Mixing political parties with the media that are supposed to keep vigilant over them erodes democracy and polarises public discourse. Political parties should have a voice, but they should not own television stations, radio channels or newspapers," the organisations said.

The 15th proposal calls for fair rules for government spending in the media, saying that today, government rewards media that favours it, and punishes media that investigates and criticises it.

The organisations said that public spending on advertising and subsidies given to the media should have nothing to do with how critical of, or favourable to, government the media is. Rules of transparency are needed to stop partisan discrimination, it said. Delia said that currently, these decisions are made by the Minister behind closed doors.

The 16th proposal calls for a serious law against SLAPP suits, so that people with money are not allowed to use the courts to silence those who reveal their wrongdoings, for protection from court cases intended to silence journalists and activists.

"It is alarming that after six years after Daphne Caruana Galizia's death, we are only now waiting for a bill which seriously addresses this," Delia said.

The organisations insisted for a cleanse of elections from corruption in their 17th proposal, and for proper enforcement of the law which has existed since the 1930s, and "is absolutely ignored by police and the Electoral Commission, which is also a product of the main political parties," Delia said, urging against the buying of votes.

The 18th proposal calls for the punishment of abuse of power, and whoever uses power to become rich or to reward their friends, whoever takes advantage or gives advantage to anyone who will return the favour by exploiting information acquired through their office, should be found guilty of crime.

They should also be removed from public office, the organisations said. This ties in with the 19th proposal, which also calls for the punishment of those who obstruct justice.

The proposal calls for whoever lies to the authorities enforcing the law, misleads them or gets rid of proof before it is brought before the investigators, whoever uses their power to create obstacles for investigators, knowingly wastes the investigators' time or limits their access to proof of crime, should be charged with criminal offences.

On this, Delia said that the current laws are defective as well, and that criminal codes adopted from other countries should help prosecutors.

The final proposal calls for autonomous Local Councils with real power to improve people's lives. Local democracy should be strengthened so that local councils may collect local taxes and act in the interests of their community, not of central government, they said.

Delia said that the country has seen a "reversal of power" for local councils, and said that having their competencies removed is another aspect which is eroding the country's democracy.

Asked by the media on having full-time MPs, the organisations said that today, the money being spent on a "ceremonial" Parliament is a waste, as there is no scrutiny on what government does.

Despite being an unpopular proposal, as it would entail increasing the pay of said MPs to a full-time basis, whose pay comes from citizens' taxes, the organisations said that if the country truly wants a democracy, it needs to pay for it to happen, otherwise it will always be in the hands of the rich.