The Roman Republic possessed an extraordinary institute reserved for emergencies. It was limited to six months, during which the appointed dictator enjoyed considerable powers. It was used sporadically during the course of two centuries. Eventually, it had to be formally abolished after Sulla and Caesar each enacted special laws to make themselves special dictators in perpetuity.
Despite its abolition, Clinton Rossiter, of Cornell University, praised it for its positive potential when in the hands of “men of good sense and goodwill”. But Giovanni Bonello reminds us that “anything meant for gentlemen has the habit of being taken advantage of when it falls into the hands of scoundrels”.
The lessons of Ancient Rome apply to any institution. Indeed, Bonello was speaking about our constitution. For him, its greatest weakness is it was “written by gentlemen for gentlemen”. That makes is susceptible to scoundrels.
Nobody doubts that, once again, our institutions fell into untrustworthy hands. The Labour Party is only now beginning to think about (maybe) apologising for undermining Malta’s institutions – but not really. We’ve heard more often that our institutions are and have been working than we have heard apologies for the state of Malta from those who defended criminals and attacked their critics.
It is a misconception to think of institutions as automata or wind-up toys. They are not wound-up or appointed periodically and work as intended until their term expires. The legal framework that creates institutions is not a guarantee that they will work as intended. Goodwill and integrity are to democratic institutions what oil is to an engine.
Without integrity, anyone can neglect to enforce standards or find loopholes to undermine that institution’s functioning. Decisions must be made every day and each of those decisions carries moral weight. No choice is neutral.
When Peter Grech decided not to act on the Panama Papers, he was exercising the discretion given to him by law. But that does not mean he made the right call. The same goes for all the other disgraced officeholders: from
Silvio Valletta to his boss, Lawrence Cutajar; to Keith Schembri and his boss, Joseph Muscat (or vice-versa).
When the Malta Gaming Authority was set up, it wasn’t anybody’s intention for the CEO to collude with the people he was supposed to be regulating.
When the police commissioner was appointed, nobody thought he would rather be eating rabbit and praising the prime minister’s family jewels than chasing money launderers and corrupt bankers.
It is far from enough to say certain decisions were mistakes. Today, we can understand better that the collusion that took place between the state and criminality was deliberate. Each of them covered for the other, and at the very top, Muscat vouched for everyone.
We may be better off now than we were three years ago but it is despite and not because of Labour- David Casa
He is being denounced now; five years too late. Though not by name, of course.
That our institutions were subverted to allow for crime is a crime in and of itself. Because, while it is almost always the case that they are responsible to political institutions, under Labour, political accountability was reinvented as undue political influence. This is still the case today.
Half-baked constitutional reforms that were only partially approved by the Venice Commission are not evidence that the institutions are working. Not to mention that the reforms were approved before the commission had time to deliver its opinion.
No number of legal reforms can scrub Malta’s reputation clean while the scoundrels are still in office.
We do not need much to accurately assess the extent of Labour’s institutional capture. All we need to do is switch on our TV sets. The latest developments at our sardonically independent state broadcaster indicate that the intention is to strengthen the capacity for political interference, not relinquish it. Recent changes to the PBS board show it is proximity to Labour that is valued above any other consideration.
Is it really in Malta’s interest to have TVM taken over as an extension of One TV? For Muscat’s ‘movement’, which, undoubtedly, includes his cabinet’s legal adviser and current prime minister, Robert Abela, the answer is that whatever was good for Labour was good for Malta. The institutions worked not if they upheld the constitution and the common interest of the Maltese but if they promoted Labour’s interest, often before the country’s.
It matters that Schembri is having to answer for his crimes in court. But Abela does not enjoy the privilege of claiming that our institutions are working. Schembri should have been where he is now five years ago, before anyone would have been encouraged to murder Daphne Caruana Galizia by the untameable corruption that was very deliberately nurtured on Muscat’s watch.
If the institutions worked then, Daphne would still be here.
The people in power today who did not have the spine to stand up to Muscat yesterday will not be doing any better any time soon. While they are still there, our institutions cannot work. Lessons from Ancient Rome still hold.
We may be better off now than we were three years ago but it is despite and not because of Labour.
We were much, much better when we weren’t in a crisis of reputation precipitated by those most despicable crooks close to Labour.
We aren’t in the clear. Far from it. To gauge how independent and functioning our institutions are today, one only need to tune in to our public broadcaster.
David Casa is a Nationalist MEP.