Now that the Labour Party will be changing its leader, the question that must be asked is whether the new leader will make a significant difference to the rule of law in Malta.

Will the Labour Party, Labour MPs, Labour MEPs and Labour local councillors continue to sing their current master’s song that there are no problems in Malta in relation to the rule of law? Only history will tell.

Experience clearly indicates that there is a serious rule of law deficit in Malta and that the government is not even bothering to acknowledge it, let alone adequately address it.

As always, prior to an election, candidates will promise heaven on earth in Malta but when in power will tend to suffer from acute amnesia. The delivery rate on their electoral promises tends to leave much to be desired.

Hence, I ask the new Labour leader: will he undertake to abide by the rule of law? He can start by confirming that he will endorse the positions hereunder.

Firstly, all chief executive officers in the public sector should no longer be appointed without a call for applications. All permanent secretaries too should henceforth be appointed following a call for applications.

The appointment and removal of the judiciary – consistent with the European Court of Human Rights judgments and international human rights instruments – should no longer be carried out by the prime minister or by a political body (Parliament) but by a judicial body.

Citizens should be given the right to initiate legislation and be given the right to recall a member of parliament in whom they have lost faith.

The constitutional bodies should be appointed in the public interest, not in the bipartisan interest of the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party.

The remuneration of Cabinet ministers and the civil service should no longer continue to be approved by Cabinet but by the House Business Committee following the advice of the auditor general.

The contracts, remuneration and conditions of employment of all chairs and members of public corporations, government owned companies, foundations and other government entities should be published in the Government Gazette.

The House of Representatives should be empowered to review those ombudsman recommendations not implemented by the civil service and public sector.

Experience clearly indicates that there is a serious rule of law deficit in Malta and that the government is not even bothering to acknowledge it

Backbenchers should also no longer be assigned frontbench executive positions and with remunerations in kind.

Unconstitutional positions of trust should be curtailed to the absolute barest minimum, if not removed completely, once it should be civil servants who should carry out these duties.

Ministries and parliamentary secretariats should no longer abuse their office by putting undue pressure on public officers/public sector entities to dish out unmerited favours to those people who do not deserve them.

Prior to a general election, the government should stop employing en masse hundreds of people with the public sector and miraculously approve all pending permissions, licences, permits and concessions, including those that in the current and previous legislatures were rejected.

The government should no longer subvert the Ombudsman institution through the appointment of politically partisan injustices boards that replicate – unprofessionally and not in the public interest – the functions of the ombudsman, and recommend remedies that normally would not be recommended by the ombudsman. Indeed, a judicial in­vestigation should be undertaken to examine all the recommendations made by these partisan injustices board.

Ministers should be held to account and asked to resign when serious allegations of maladministration, bad governance or corruption are levelled against them.

The public administration should publish in the Government Gazette details of all major contracts it enters into. All major government contracts should be reviewed by the auditor general prior to being awarded and followed up by the Public Accounts Committee afterwards.

The government should implement in their totality the reports of the Venice Commission, GRECO, MONEVAL, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Union Commission, etc. related to the rule of law, corruption and good governance.

The prime minister’s excessive and unfettered powers of appointment should be severely curtailed to ensure that he is not allowed to turn that office into one run by an elected dictator.

An independent Police Board should be established to supervise the workings of the Police Force and report to the House of Representatives on irregularities, dereliction of duties and abuse of power by police officers.

The Opposition should have at least a fortnightly sitting allocated to it in the House of Representatives to discuss those subjects of its own choice. There should also be allocated a weekly sitting in Parliament for prime ministerial grilling.

All MPs should be full-timers and with no real or perceived conflict of interest.

The institutions of the State should be allowed to function without improper government interference and without being hijacked by the Office of the Prime Minister, ministers, parliamentary secretaries or the government.

The president, commissioner of police and the attorney general should be appointed by the House of Representatives on the basis of a two-thirds majority as is the case with the ombudsman and auditor general.

The Constitution should be amended to ensure that the president really acts as guardian of the Constitution and to provide remedies to the citizens before the Constitutional Court where the president abdicates his constitutional duties or unduly procrastinates to fulfil the oath of office.

MPs that have a conflict of interest through government employment should be asked to resign from their position as MPs.

The Planning Authority should be prohibited from dishing out development permits outside the development zone with impunity and in breach of planning policy, sustainable development and the protection of the environment.

Finally, the Environment and Resources Authority should have the right to veto any decision of the Planning Authority and any other State entity in breach of sustainable development and environmental protection and to refer the matter to the House of Representatives for a final decision.

These measures comprise rule of law issues that this country faces today. No government has ever attempted to redress these issues, to the extent that we have stooped past the point of redemption.

Will the new Labour Party leader and prime minister commit himself to res­pect the rule of law, apologise to the nation for all past mistakes in this area made by the Labour Party and Labour governments, and do what the principles of good governance expect him to do? Only the future will tell.

In all probability, once a new leader is elected and the euphoria is over, the country will return to business as usual. All rule of law matters will be forgotten, conveniently swept under the carpet (politicians are extremely capable at this) and the end result will be that ministers will all live happily ever after!

Yet the writing on the wall indicates that the implosion of the Labour government under Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was due to a rule of law deficit. But history will unfortunately repeat itself again and again once the lessons of history remain un­learnt and the Labour government and its sympathisers refuse to acknowledge that there is a serious rule of law deficit in Malta. We will move from one constitutional crisis to another, sinking deeper and further down in murky waters.

Prof. Kevin Aquilina is Head of Department of Media, Communications and Technology Law, Faculty of Laws, University of Malta.