At long last, Malta is embracing the future. The government has proudly announced an AI-powered initiative to tackle public cleanliness. Prime Minister Robert Abela, flanked by a beaming Minister Miriam Dalli and parliamentary secretary Glenn Bedingfield, declared that artificial intelligence will soon be hunting down litter from the air. Somewhere, a robot is currently learning to differentiate between a plastic bottle and junk mail.

The Cleansing and Maintenance Division is receiving the high-tech facelift, and workers are, according to the Prime Minister, very proud. And they should be - after all, who wouldn't want to be part of a national initiative where machines join humans in the noble quest to rid the streets of stray kebab wrappers and burger boxes?

But as we gaze skyward at the drones and listen to the soft hum of automated scrubbers polishing our pavements, one can't help but wonder: Can AI also help clean up, say, the corridors of power?

Because Malta's problem isn't just dirty roads - it's dirty politics. While our public spaces may soon be spotless, the same can't be said for our public institutions. Drones may pick up trash in rural areas, but they'll have a much harder time detecting a message for someone to be helped pass a driving test or obtain social services they do not qualify for.

One might argue that while AI can clean the pavements, cleaning the political system is a far messier business. After all, how do you teach an algorithm to understand conflict of interest when some of our own institutions seem confused by the concept? Can facial recognition detect a poker face at a public inquiry? Can machines unearth shell companies in Panama? Can a drone follow a suitcase of cash?

These are the kinds of clean-ups Malta truly needs. The kind that don't just make the country look good in press releases, but actually hold up under international scrutiny - and forensic audits.

Let's not forget: we've had a decade of scandal fatigue. From the infamous Panama Papers to the three hospitals' fiasco, just to mention two of the largest shameful episodes, Malta has developed a remarkable ability to sweep the inconvenient under the political carpet. Not even a fleet of AI vacuum cleaners could manage that level of containment.

And let's not forget the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, a wound still raw in the national conscience. Several years and many inquiries later, we're still waiting for full justice.

The Prime Minister waxed lyrical about the pride of Clean Malta workers, the value they bring to society, and the improvements made to their working conditions. And truly, hats off to them - those individuals keep our streets liveable. And we should all contribute to making their lives easier by disposing of our unwanted items properly, not throw them out of car windows or dumping them on the pavement in the street behind our residence.

But it's difficult to celebrate cleanliness in public spaces when public accountability is covered in cobwebs.

This project, part of a €17 million investment in public cleanliness, might boost efficiency and spruce up our towns, but it also risks acting as a high-tech smokescreen. While we're marvelling at drones identifying waste in public places, we're not talking about who's still benefitting from opaque deals, why whistleblowers are treated with suspicion, or how it's possible to be neck-deep in controversy and still enjoy the perks of public office.

And let's be honest: the government has become quite good at distracting many with shiny things. Need to avoid a grilling on corruption? Announce a digital innovation or that a cheque will soon be posted. Lose a case before the European Court of Justice? Launch a new app, or in this case, an AI-powered broomstick. It's governance by gadget, politics by press release.

What if we invested the same energy into institutional reform as we do into robotic scrubbers? Imagine a Malta where judicial inquiries move swiftly, politicians answer uncomfortable questions without resorting to "ongoing investigations" and public boards are appointed on merit, not allegiance.

Perhaps we should redirect a fraction of that €17 million towards creating an ethics drone. Its mission? To raise alarms every time a girlfriend is given a job without her having the necessary qualifications, a boyfriend is tasked with something he is not capable of doing or someone gets appointed to a committee because he or she is a friend of a friend. We could even equip Parliament with a transparency dashboard - complete with flashing red lights and automated fact-checks every time a minister insists "nothing to see here" or avoids replying to a parliamentary question.

To his credit, Abela did speak of worker dignity, better pay, and improved conditions. But dignity isn't reserved only for street cleaners. It applies to journalists risking their lives to expose the truth. To whistleblowers whose only protection seems to be public sympathy. To citizens who pay their taxes and expect that if they want a magisterial inquiry, they get one, and not have the government making it next to impossible for them by changing the law.

Wouldn't it be something if a drone could hover over Castille and detect not just waste, but truths that embarrass the government? Not just litter, but the littering of democracy itself - through unchecked power, eroded institutions, and laws that never seem to apply upward?

Let's not kid ourselves. These drones are not political reform. They are not transparency. They are not justice. They are high-tech window dressing for a house in need of a deep, forensic spring clean.

In a fairer, cleaner Malta, we should create software that helps journalists track government spending or exposes irregularities in real-time. Instead, software has been created to chase beer cans.

If this is what "digital transformation" means, perhaps we need to aim higher.

So yes, let's clean the streets. Let's keep the promenade pristine and the parks pleasant. But let's not pretend that's enough. A truly clean country is one where truth isn't buried under bureaucracy, where all institutions work in the interests of the country, where freedom of information requests are answered, and where AI doesn't just clean our gutters.

Until then, we'll have drones in the sky and dirt under the carpet. And no amount of technology can hide the fact that it's not just the roads that need sweeping.