A decision made by the Standards Commissioner this week may have exonerated a minister but, at the same time, exposed how far this government is prepared to go in its propaganda.

Last Monday, a report by the commissioner, Chief Justice Emeritus Joseph Azzopardi, cleared then Transport Minister Ian Borg of an ethics breach over the €500,000 spent in direct orders for an exhibition to promote plans for a mass underground transport service.

In his ruling, the commissioner said that public procurement regulations should be changed to create penalties against those who bypass them. There is evidence that Transport Malta broke its own rules on procurement and direct orders, he said. He concluded it was not his remit to establish whether the direct orders were necessary or whether a competitive call for tenders had to be issued.  The Commissioner did note however that prior approval from the Finance Ministry for the direct orders was required - and no such prior approval had been sought.

But, aside from these considerations which indicate that rules were broken, and aside from the limited powers afforded to the commissioner, about which we have written in the past, this ruling can be seen in another light - and this is how public money, irrespective of whether it is given through direct orders or via a tender call, is used by the government to push its agenda and win votes.

It's called the power of incumbency, and the Labour Party has taken the concept to another level since it took over the reins of the country.

Let us put things in context.

The presentation of what was then described as a "€6.2 billion project that would take between 15 to 20 years to complete" was strategically presented in October 2021, that is as the country was gearing up towards a general election, which was held less than six months later.

At the time, complaints about traffic problems abounded (and they have not stopped; if anything, they have increased) and the government wanted to do something - or, to be more precise, appear to be doing something - to appease public opinion. It wanted to make it seem that it was about to do something drastic to resolve traffic issues - and what better way was there other than to indicate that it was planning a mass underground transportation system?

As was to be expected, the subject quickly gathered public attention, and the public was duped into thinking that this project was to start imminently. The way it was presented by politicians, including Prime Minister Robert Abela and Borg himself, made it seem that digging the first tunnel was just weeks away. This project kept being promoted right up to the election. People were already planning how they will be reaching their destinations without using their own private car.

But, soon after the votes were counted, we did not hear much about it. It has not been mentioned in any of the budgets that were presented by the government since winning the 2022 election. When asked about it in 2023, Abela said that the metro system is "no longer a priority".

So it is safe to say now that the October 2021 presentation of the underground transport project was just a ruse to instil public expectations that the government was planning a system to ease traffic issues. Once the election was won, there was no need to continue to mention it.

Maybe, who knows, it will be regurgitated in the next year or two as we approach the next election. Just like the Gozo tunnel idea makes its way into public discourse before the people vote.

But, perhaps, the people have learnt the lesson by now.