Joseph Muscat resigned from parliament last week after giving a 90-second speech. He had told no one that he was going to quit, he said, because he hates farewells and fuss.
The next day, he went on a One programme for a 60-minute farewell interview with all the fuss and furore of a hagiography; and the day after, on TVM to justify himself.
The manner of Muscat’s departure sums him up, really. He plays Jekyll one minute and Hyde the next. He says one thing but then proceeds to do the exact opposite.
The One interview was, of course, a carefully curated one – so curated, in fact, and so fawning and prostrating was his interviewer, Karl Stagno Navarra, that Muscat, by the end, had to clarify: “I’m not going to die – you’re making it sound like an obituary”.
He’s right. Although last week was Muscat’s political obituary – curtains down on split-personality politics – it doesn’t mean that now he’s absolved of all that went on during his tenure.
Remember his principle of ‘meritocracy’, Muscat’s election rally call in 2013? Back then he was repeating it so much that we were all mouthing it in our sleep. Even at the grocer we’d ask for a pint of meritokrazija instead of milk, so brainwashed were we.
But it was a word that he struck off his dictionary – and ours – 90 seconds after he got to power, and in practice replaced by kakistocracy and celebration of friends of friends.
Notwithstanding, he repeatedly stressed during his leave-taking interview, that he was, indeed, a man of principle. “Let me give you an example of how principled I am,” Muscat said.
“I only went to the Renzo Piano theatre once, because I always disliked it; eh, that’s how principled I am!”
The presenter looked at him in great awe, and Muscat expanded on his tin-logic with a sneer: “Now, I expect those who opposed the Central Link not to use it, if they are principled like me.” More awe.
Some 90 seconds later, he was telling us all how his aim had always been to help hard-working workers. Clearly the farmers who lost their land to the Central Link, the house owners whose property ended up a roundabout and its value fizzled to nothing – do not count as hard-working workers.
He also failed to mention that just after he was elected, his chief of staff and top minister were already opening up secret companies in Panama to pocket illicit money snatched from Maltese tax-paying workers. He did not lift a finger to protect his beloved hard-working workers.
Muscat did, however, speak about how he can’t bear hatred, and that he wanted to preach love (Stagno Navarra’s eyes turned heart-shape here: “Love is bigger than anything, Dr Muscat!”).
But barely 90 seconds later, he forgot all talk of love and urged Labour voters to unite so they’ll keep scoring victories over their “adversary party”, their eternal enemies, the Nationalists.
“A small pocket of them hate me because I broke up their party,” he said.
In his delusion, he does not realise that his legacy is a heart-broken country- Kristina Chetcuti
Bzzt. Wrong. If anyone had to hate him for anything it would be because: a) he turned a blind eye to the blatant corruption taking place around him; b) he purposely weakened all of Malta’s institutions and turned this country into a land of impunity, and c) because of this: under his very watch, Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated while uncovering all the rot of his corrupt lot.
In fact, here’s a blow to his inflated ego: we don’t hate him. He is too small a man, too much of a liar, cheater and gaslighter for anyone to waste energy hating him. This is beyond hate. This is about the havoc he has left behind. We want him to face justice not out of hate, but out of love – for our country.
During his TVM interview, he kept insisting that “we solved this [the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination] case”. It’s something he parrots all the time, hoping that, like in 2013, we believe him. We don’t. The assassination mastermind is still out there, with possible alleged links to his office.
He also insisted that he never “saw” corruption while in office. I wish we could believe him but we can’t, for the simple reason that Keith Schembri’s money-laundering evidence was publicly available; and so was Daphne Project’s damning evidence on 17 Black.
It would have taken him only 90 seconds to fire his chief of staff, but he did not; he stood by him.
There’s no two ways about it: he turned a blind eye to evidence when it was his prime duty as a public officer to keep watch and to repress any illegal offence. Because of his inaction, and his greed, Daphne was killed.
He said in his interviews that he was broken-hearted for having had to leave the way he did. In his delusion, he does not realise that his legacy is a heartbroken country.
Muscat cheated on us. In his electoral vows, he promised a government based on values; then, while still drinking the wedding champagne, went off to have a love affair with the corrupt. He denied it till he could not get any redder in the face and till he could frown no more, and it took him four years, to somehow acknowledge it and leave the house.
And now we are left to repair the untold damage and ruined reputation that Muscat left in his wake. We have to try to rebuild our country for our children and we have to start by ensuring that justice is served; however long it takes us.
krischetcuti@gmail.com
Twitter: @krischetcuti