The PN needs to be seen to be transparent
There is no way the Nationalist Party can beat Joseph Muscat’s outfit if it intends to continue being a reactionary party to the red herrings and spin tactics the Prime Minister has now become so predictable of. Each time the independent media, and a handful of foreign journalists, tighten the belt on the incredulous saga of the Minister without Portfolio and the Chief of Staff who opened secret companies in Panama and the BVI a day after the general election but still refuse to step down, the Prime Minister spins back with a Sunday sermon aimed at dividing the PN ranks. Last Sunday he managed to do more than that.
Aided by a story in MaltaToday, the Prime Minister managed to get everyone to stop talking of Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri, to shift public discussion onto Deputy leader Mario de Marco, to enrage PN diehards on a day when their party desperately needed their donations and to break all relations between the PN and one of its long-time supporter and sponsor Silvio Debono of the Seabank Group. All achieved in one blow. As things stand, one needs to make up his/her mind which is most worrisome between the PL’s mighty spin machine and the PN’s inept ability to counter spin. The Mario de Marco story is a case in point.
If, as declared, the Leader of the Opposition
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was aware that his Deputy Leader was legal councillor to DB Group in the ITS tower proposal and if he had no problem with it until the price of the land was published by Government, then why didn’t he and his deputy declare it at the onset?
The lack of foresight in the PN’s ranks is scary and if it is naivety at play than the lot need a crash course in how to scent a trap when its being laid in front of their eyes by their adversaries.
Nonetheless, the events construed over the weekend opened a Pandora’s casket onto the professional lives of politicians. This newspaper believes that it is time the political class designs proper guidelines for politicians who cannot but operate in the private sector but who should be transparent with the general public.
Malta lacks a proper body that can investigate and evaluate the relationships between politicians and big business. Take the kneejerk over-reactions by DB Group’s CEO, in which he rushed to wave at Simon Busuttil the thousands of Euros donated to the PN over the past years the moment the PN leader alleged that the DB tower could be the fruit of corrupt practices.
Who, in this country, is tasked with setting up an investigation after such revelations? Is it the Police? If it is no one in the force has what it takes to stir such an investigation. Is it FIAU? We doubt whether such a probe can be initiated unless politicians signal it.
As it stands, this newspaper calls on both parties to request of all Members of Parliament to disclose their business relations. The same should be said of prospective candidates.
Nothing beats the politician’s own integrity in evaluating which clients they ought to avoid and which not. However, the truth of the matter in this issue remains that Mario de Marco doesn’t seem to have tried to influence his party’s policy on high-rise buildings or on the price of public land such as that of ITS given by Government to the DB Group. On the other hand one could argue that had Dr de Marco not acted with integrity his client would have been at a loss had the PN been given access, (by its Deputy leader), to the legal documents pertaining to the deal. The PN will take the DB tower deal to the AG for investigation.
In parallel, and to put everyone’s mind at rest, the PN should also appoint an internal independent inquiry to evaluate if Dr de Marco acted in good faith.
Like all political parties, the PN needs to be transparent, but it also needs to be seen to be transparent.