Letters to the editor – May 25, 2026

Too selfish to be a politician

John O’Dea of Mosta writes:

There is a specific brand of selflessness required to survive in the so-called corridors of power and I don’t have the heart for it.

To be a politician in Malta is to embrace a peculiar form of financial asceticism. It is the noble art of overseeing the distribution of millions of euros while personally surviving on a salary that would make a mid-level iGaming compliance officer weep.

I realise that I am far too selfish for such a calling. I have this stubborn, antiquated desire to actually earn and enjoy the wealth that I generate.

In the Maltese political ecosystem, the job description is simple: the politician is the architect of everyone else’s fortune. He spends his days signing off on master plans, rezoning stretches of land into goldmines and navigating the bureaucratic labyrinths for friends of friends who apply for building permits that they otherwise would not obtain without his help.

Parliament in session. File photo

And what is the politician’s reward for this midwifing of miracles? A government salary and some freebie is like a government-funded car, a mobile phone, free internet and a couple of sharp suits. To be a politician is to sit at a banquet, carving the roast and pouring the wine for guests who arrive in Maseratis and quietly sustain yourself with the steam rising from their plates.

I simply do not have the temperament to watch a developer turn a €2 million plot of land into €30 million blocks of apartments, based on a policy I championed only to go home and worry about how I’m going to feed, clothe my family and pay my bills. That level of restraint is not saintly. It is suspicious.

We expect our leaders to be “of the people”, which, apparently, means that they should be comfortably middle class while their “friends” become oligarchs. I, however, suffer from a chronic case of logical consistency. If I am making somebody rich, I want a cut. 

A transparent, legal, contractual cut. Since in the private sector that is called a “consultancy” and “corruption” in the public sector, I’ll stick to the former.

I do not have the energy for creative accounting, trust accounts, assets in my spouse’s name and other financial shenanigans to hide my unearned wealth. I do not want to look at a crane and wonder whether or not the owner is going to remember my birthday.

So, thank you, but no thank you. I do not wish to be an electoral candidate (not that any party has asked me to). I’ll leave the “sacrificial” work of making other people millionaires to the professionals in parliament. They seem to have a much better grasp on how to live richly on a poor man’s wage than I ever will.