With the country seemingly in a never-ending election campaign mode, the thin line between a government of all the people and the party of some of the people has been erased.
The abuse of incumbency on the scale that we see today in Malta by any other name, such as political astuteness, is nothing less than abuse.
To be fair, the abuse of incumbency is not a recent phenomenon. In a small country like ours, it is easy to join the dots and realise that party loyalty often counts more than skills and qualifications.
But, in the last decade or so, we have seen a government in overdrive, setting up countless agencies, companies, authorities and quangos that are almost invariably managed, or even overstaffed, by party loyalists.
The not-so-obscure motivation of this undemocratic practice is to curry favour with party loyalists to ensure that their votes, and those of their families/friends, are cast for the party in power. We know of way too many instances where posts are awarded to dissenters who are making veiled threats.
In the last decade or so, we have seen a government in overdrive, setting up countless agencies, companies, authorities and quangos that are almost invariably managed, or even overstaffed, by party loyalists
Incumbency abuse can take various forms, including abuse of state media to unfairly influence public opinion, granting unearned favours to people with an excessive sense of entitlement in return for their votes and appointing party loyalists to paid public roles to retain their electoral support.
Simply put, abusing incumbency is equivalent to buying votes with public money.
The auditor general’s reports are often our society’s voice of conscience. In a recent report, the auditor general noted that Pjazza Teatru Rjal has more people sitting on the board of directors than staff members running the theatre.
It has a 13-person strong board of directors with just five employees. This is ridiculous.
Meanwhile, artists struggle to find the necessary financial resources to put their creativity into practice.
The controversies surrounding how the Malta Film Commission squandered public funds is another example of the abuse of the power of incumbency.
How many times do we have to continue seeing the same party loyalists be appointed to top positions or board entities while dozens of qualified and experienced individuals are elbowed out of the system?
How many times have we reported of scandalous appointments at entities like Transport Malta, Infrastructure Malta, PBS, even in the diplomatic corps?
Undoubtedly, the misuse of the power of incumbency is one of the most dangerous challenges to the integrity of political democracy.
Of course, the attempt to improperly influence voters is not limited to incumbents.
State institutions and organisations must be neutral in all their interactions with the public and, notably, must ensure that there is no misuse of state resources for the undue benefit of a political party.
An incumbent party must exhibit the political will to uphold the law and always act with the utmost integrity. This administration is, regrettably, falling far short of this practice as it increases the dose of clientelism in many of its decisions.
It is time to reverse this trend to save our democracy from sinking further into political mediocrity.
The government must have a code of conduct that defines the criteria for appointing people to public roles. Codes of conduct are not always binding. So, we also need legislation and practices that facilitate access to information for media and the public.
This enhances transparency and accountability and increases confidence in politics. The government must heed the public’s justified appeal to stop buying votes and silencing dissent with public money.