I’ve pondered for a long while on what I would like for Christmas, and the answer turned out to be rather simple. I want to live in a normal country where our children can thrive and prosper, where the weakest among us are helped to climb up the social ladder and where markets flourish – a State which provides the sick with the best treatment possible and which cares for its elderly. 

I don’t think I’m asking for much, am I?

To achieve this, we need a healthy democracy with the right political parties, not the populist types but, rather, the ones built on values and principles. We need parties that do not manipulate the laws for their own benefit, but which guarantee their enforcement.

A healthy democracy requires parties that base their plans on solid research and not on hearsay or unfounded opinions. It requires parties that appoint people based on meritocracy and not based on friendships or allegiances. 

Such parties would not be afraid to take tough decisions while having the weak at heart and making sure they are protected. They would also help businesses thrive while keeping them away from their own pockets.   

Let’s not forget that, in the past years, we were rather lucky. Mossack Fonseca has been around for more than four decades, and we might have never known about this network of money launderers.

The real problem in this country is that the government is too powerful

We managed to find the truth only because of leaks like the Panama Papers and many others. Unfortunately, we had to pay the highest price possible to uncover the truth – the life of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Thus, we should be grateful as a country that we got this opportunity to create a better Malta before it was too late. Now we must ensure that we do not waste this opportunity!

To ensure this, we need a good government, and I’m pretty sure that many decent and genuine people within the Labour party are capable of doing this. Now is your time to shine. Don’t let us down.

But we also need a strong Opposition – one that keeps the government in check.

Unfortunately, the bickering within the Nationalist Party is distracting it from performing its role effectively. While change is inevitable within the Labour Party (and the sooner it happens, the better), this doesn’t seem to be the case for the PN.

If the PN does not cleanse itself, if it does not reboot the organs of the party and if it does not reinvent itself, then the checks and balances will once again be missing, and the country will be in danger.

However, even until we wait for the two main political parties to get their house in order, I believe there is something much more important we should be discussing, namely, the creation of the Second Republic. The constitution should be thoughtfully updated.

I would like to live in a country where education prepares our children for life and not just for exams; a country in which we are not ashamed to teach our children about our recent political past.

I would like to see people in the lower strata of our society helped to move up, with abundant opportunities and fair working conditions which give people a fair, decent wage.

I would like Malta to be a place where no one is above the law and the police are free to do their work without any political interference. Corruption here would be treated seriously and not hidden under the carpet.

I would like for everyone to be guaranteed swift justice and for everyone to be free to express his own opinion, so long as this does not promote hatred against anyone.

The media should be free to do their job and be seriously protected from any threats. I would like for the government to be transparent and for it to have no right to hide anything from the people. 

I would like for debates to not create conflict but, rather, to serve as tools to come up with new solutions. I would like to see small political parties have fair representation in Parliament and for the electoral system to be modified to eradicate clientelism.

The winner does not take all! The management of State bodies should be distributed according to the representation in Parliament. Judicial appointments should be impartial and not based on allegiances.

I want to live in a country in which there is a real separation between the legislative and the executive, for the President to stop being another political appointee and to start becoming the President of the people. The role of the President should also be enhanced to create further checks and balances on the government.

I want to live in a country in which the environment becomes a priority and stops being a commodity.

Let’s face it, the real problem in this country is that the government is too powerful, and it can do whatever it wants. This omnipotence should not be the case. I’m sure that the fathers of the First Republic never envisaged, in their wildest dreams, that we could turn up with this mess. 

So, I’m begging everyone this Christmas – all the political parties, the President and anyone involved. Let’s get our heads together and create a new Republic that works. Politicians are the ones that got us in this mess through their action or their inaction!

So, for the sake of the future of our country, I’m begging you to put away your egos and bring forth the reforms that are needed. Let’s not patch our country for the coming months but fix the system for the good of future generations.