Existing without power

While this government was busy working to strengthen its’ people’s quality of life, a gang of malevolent individuals were seated around a table, planning in careful detail the most terrible political frame-up in the independent history of this country. Their nefarious plan was not intended merely to wrench power away from Labour’s hands: they wanted to destroy the unity of Joseph Muscat’s family and, in the process, destabilise Malta’s social and economic progress.

Simon Busuttil’s stint in politics is clearly over, even though Adrian Delia succumbed to pressure and backed down from his decision. Irrespective of Delia’s Uturn, Busuttil should step down, our country deserves better. I am not saying this because we’d like to be rid of him (he is doing Labour a favour by hanging around) but because his irresponsible comportment has dragged our politics through the kind of mud we had never been through before in this country. Clearly, he was prepared to win the election by means of a wellorganised lie. Even worse — he was willing to lead our country on the strength of that lie, as long as he’d be appointed Prime Minister. For Busuttil, the end justified the means — so much for good governance and the “honest politics” he bragged about while beating his chest from the PN pulpit. Quite hypocritical.

Grudges and hatred can lead a weak or insecure individual to contemplate anything. It was hatred that led Simon and his evil gang to cook up this absurd swindle. I refuse to believe that Simon was merely parroting everything Daphne Caruana Galizia dished out. Simon Busuttil knew the Egrant story was fake — so much so that he never insisted he’d step down in case the inquiry found the Muscat family clear of the allegations. The Prime Minister, on the other hand, always made it very clear that, were the magistrate to conclude that Egrant belonged to his wife, he’d step down right away. Dr Muscat had absolutely nothing to hide and — consequently — nothing to fear. It is sad, indeed ironic, that Simon Busuttil led so many genuine Nationalists up the garden path in this brazen manner, feeding them the tallest of tall stories right off the table of truth.

Admittedly, the Egrant tale was crafty. Planned to the last detail, it could almost have been credible. So fastidiously was it devised that I myself, at one point, started — against my better judgment — having some doubts. I count myself lucky, however, to be working closely with Dr Muscat. My colleagues and myself know him well. We know Mrs Muscat well. And we trusted them.

The Egrant deceit was a heinous act of psychological violence that has scarred the Muscats deeply. In some ways, as a young politician, it has also scarred me. Despite repeated and absurd assaults from DCG, I have always retained my belief that there are limits to political rivalry too. There is a human line. I admit that, after the Egrant frame-up, it is hard to hold on to such a belief. For the first time, I have ended up asking myself, what is the point of striving in my political work under such dark circumstances? What has happened is vulgar and repugnant beyond measure. It may have instilled fear in those who would — as I have — make their first steps in contributing and being politically active. They may, right now, be fear for themselves and their families as they prepare their next steps in life. The darkness that has taken place has, in its own way, given me a certain strength. In the past days, I have taken time to pore over my convictions again — to reconnect with my political beliefs. Which politics do I want to achieve for those I serve? What kind of good do I want my country to benefit from as a result of my work, time, and energy as a young politician?

Evil is furtive. It is always devised under cover, in obscure places. Even though the PN has a long record of operating through lies and calumny, nobody could see the evil of Egrant coming. Even when Eddie Fenech Adami lied about Alfred Sant, the lie was not as obscene as this.

Our Prime Minister himself wept. I shudder to think what these individuals would have done to the smallest and most vulnerable amongst us. If the Prime Minister could fall victim to such an insidious act, what would dangers would an ordinary citizen be vulnerable to? My Labour movement approaches power fully aware of what it feels like not to have it. The signals the Nationalist Party keeps sending out, however, is that it cannot exist without power, that it does not want to snap out of its fantasy of power. It does not want to accept itself without power.

Now that Magistrate Aaron Bugeja’s report has brought to light a frame-up of historic proportions, I also wish Daphne Caruana Galizia could be here to answer for what has taken place. True, nothing can erase the unspeakable horror of her demise. But the Egrant affair also attests to a very different Daphne than the one whose reputation was so carefully doctored after her brutal assassination. Daphne had also behaved irresponsibly: most stories she published would not have been verified ahead of her presenting them as sacred fact — and often adorning them with fantasies.

The Egrant lie didn’t only impact the Muscat family and Malta itself. To say it has harmed the Nationalist Party would be an understatement. Simon Busuttil was asked to disappear by his peers. His position is no longer tenable, not even within his own ranks. In my view, he has a window of opportunity to save what’s left of his skin. He seems, though, quite determined to dig deeper into the rut. He has lost many battles for the PN. And yet, incredibly, he thinks himself indispensable to it. His arrogance has always stood out. Rather than bowing to his leader’s and Administrative Council’s initial decision, he has begun to make internal alliances and further destabilising the PN. He is, in other words, wreaking the kind of damage to the PN that only a star protagonist in the Egrant drama could be capable of.

The PN Opposition has tried to spin the idea that our country’s institutions — including the judiciary itself — are weak. The Egrant lie has, however, shown our law courts to be functioning in a strong and rigorous way. Ironically, the institution of the Opposition itself has been enfeebled by the Egrant fallout. And the information media has also taken a drubbing. The media has had full and unhampered freedom to express itself with Labour in government. Egrant has shown how sectors of the media can also be abused of — Pierre Portelli, a journalist at the time, and today Delia’s right-hand man, published a conspiracy as fact. Other journalists, from other media outlets, also followed Portelli’s line and projected this lie as a truth.

Many people have spoken to me, wanting to voice their expectation that criminal charges be pressed against both those who falsified the documents, and other main actors in this cowardly affair. Justice needs to take place — for our country’s sake, yes, as well as that of the Muscat family. There is, however, an overriding reason for calling due process of justice into action in this specific case. It is a matter for the generations. What has come to light this week must never happen again in this country. If justice is done and seen to be done, an important precedent will also have been created that can only shelter and safeguard our country’s upcoming generation and those after it from such unspeakable evils. It’s not a question of hawkishness, but rather, of being wise as owls, leaving no stone unturned in ensuring our political future remains clear of such abominations.

It was not only the head of Malta’s Labour movement who wept, but the Prime Minister of an entire nation that has been wronged in the most heinous and vengeful of ways. None of our citizens, nobody amongst our political stakeholders, none of our families, regardless of their beliefs, ever deserves to shed those tears. In view of what has happened, I’d like to reach out to the people particularly to our sixteen-year-olds who will be voting for the first time, do not let the Egrant affair affect your understanding of what political activism is all about. We are here to deliver a better quality of life for everyone in this country. And we will continue to nurture this movement: a movement of good will, one in which every person who has tasted psychological violence and trauma on grounds of political belief in the past, will now find a home that is both welcoming, and safe.