Best of times
The intro to Labour’s 2017 election manifesto read that a Labour government was a guarantee for stability and credibility leading to the ‘best of times’ for the Maltese people.
That prediction could not have been more off-track, especially for its same author who faced instability and credibility issues of such proportions that he had to resign in disgrace.
His chosen candidate, anointed to ensure the continuity of the best of times, now has to play a very delicate game of breaking with the past as much as possible but seeming to build on it at any rate with the closest of party insiders. This can take ridiculous vestiges of truth and untruth. For instance, when it comes to rule of law, Abela tries to break with the past by extending an apology to the Caruana Galizia family, giving the impression of accepting the inquiry findings to then ensure not to apply them at all by insisting on covering for his Justice Minister exposed to be in cahoots with the owner of 17 Black.
Labour’s promise of the best of times can be assessed by each and every one of us against our own performance in profession, work or business. Some could tend to attribute personal success with some virtue from government. On closer inspection, one realises that the best government can do is let its nose out of our matters. Overall however, I believe that all of us have an expectation from government to at least handle the country’s reputation in a decent way.
Most of us don’t really care if we take the trophy for best in Europe in this or in that. It’s ridiculous to boast of being best in something among equally advanced nations. What we really care about as citizens is not standing out for the wrong reasons. That is exactly what Labour’s best of times pledge is actually delivering in practice.
The credibility and stability pledged has resulted in Malta being greylisted by the FATF as a jurisdiction not meriting the trust of the international community when it comes to the fight against money laundering. If that was not enough, we ended up also on the UK’s high risk list of countries not carrying their weight in money laundering and financing of terrorism.
I don’t know about you. I think I would not end up in situations akin to similar distrust in my personal affairs, but forcing myself to imagine what I would do if I am told I am distrusted to such a degree, I think I would come clean, forcibly and completely. I would come clean without an if or a but, then start rebuilding trust after that. Because trust is not really something you negotiate or trade with. It is something you need to secure before anything else becomes relevant.
This is why I strongly believe that Labour is doing it all wrong when it comes to representing Malta’s good name. It did not come clean. It does not come clean on money laundering. It does not come clean on rule of law. It does not come clean on passport sales. Instead it keeps on delving into the ifs and the buts. Like it did as soon as Commission President von der Leyen declared in her recent visit that Labour’s passport sales have to stop as they threaten European values. Out comes Alex Muscat with his ifs and buts arguing about EU and national competences.
Yes, in normal times, I would stand with Alex Muscat that the assignment of citizenship is a national competence. But in times like these, where you need to re-construct stability and credibility, you don’t argue with technicalities. In times like these I would address the core objections of the European Commission to the government’s passport sales, these being the lack of a proven genuine link and the publicity of the beneficiaries’ names.
In times like these, where I have an FATF judgement shedding doubt on our credibility to implement money laundering rules, and an inquiry of three respected judges telling us of a collective cabinet responsability leading to the killing of a journalist, I would stop covering for the Minister for ‘Good Governance’ when he was caught red-handed texting Yorgen Fenech. Times like these call for a break with that kind of continuity.
But Abela seems to know no better than to plough ahead with his forced smile, sure as he is of a great coverage by PBS for anything he says, anything he does, without any question or scrutiny. One small example this week: Abela announced the building of a racetrack for car racing enthusiasts. I do not have the temperament to follow TVM news on a daily basis, but I can take a risk here of assuming that PBS journalists did not ask or report any answers to the question as to why the government who promised the same project in two manifestos in 2013 and 2017 is now again putting this promise on its list for 2021. Best of times indeed.