Perhaps an accurate way to describe some politicians would be to call them entitled jerks with an inflated sense of their own importance. That’s being kind.
This is not just a local phenomenon, of course. Too many men in positions of power, and, occasionally, women (because it’s still mainly men who govern), come to believe that the rules of decent society and democratic governance do not apply to them and act like that.
A case in point was the way Konrad Mizzi rejected an invitation from parliament’s Public Accounts Committee to testify on the Electrogas deal.
Most of the countries that have adopted the British parliamentary system as a model for their legislatures give great importance to this parliamentary body. Parliament appoints a PAC to scrutinise the value for money – the economy, efficiency and effectiveness – of public spending. The committee represents ordinary citizens in holding the government to account for the delivery of public services using taxpayer money.
Malta’s PAC should be working overtime. Most of the big public contracts awarded under the Joseph Muscat regime are tainted with suspicions of corruption and abuse of power. According to the former finance minister, now Central Bank of Malta governor, Edward Scicluna, the approval of many of these contracts came from a “kitchen cabinet” that included Muscat, his then chief of staff, Keith Schembri, and the once-powerful former energy minister, Mizzi.
The PAC met this week to discuss the allegations of mismanagement in the Electrogas project, steered by Mizzi from start to finish. The project is riddled with still unanswered questions about what the shareholders contributed to it, what they got in return, how gas to drive the power station was procured and whether the Maltese people got the best value for money from those who negotiated the contract on their behalf. The deal remains shrouded in suspicions of misuse of power, if not outright corruption, and has even been linked to the murder of a journalist.
However, Mizzi had the audacity to inform the PAC that he would not be attending the sitting to answer questions about Electrogas. He argued that the exercise was “a partisan attack” on the project and went into an ends-justifies-the-means spiel of how it had rid the island of polluting heavy fuel and had brought untold benefits to Maltese and Gozitans.
This means the taxpayer will remain in the dark about whether their hard-earned tax money has been used judiciously or to fatten private pockets, a matter of little concern to Mizzi, of course, who keeps playing the victim of political conspiracy. Still, the real victims would be the common people who financed the project, which has burned a hole in their own pockets.
Too many MPs forget they are there to serve, rather than act like mini regents, surrounded by supplicants and aides whose livelihoods depend on them.
As an MP, Mizzi was entitled not to appear before the PAC. But whatever the motive he sees in the invitation to testify, in spurning it he showed utter disrespect towards parliament and the people who elected him.
The four Labour members on the PAC refused to censure Mizzi – who no longer represents their party – for failing to allow parliament the opportunity to get to the bottom of this failure in public governance. Instead, they resorted to Punch-and-Judy politics and got into a shouting match with the other side of the House, rather than doing the right thing and ensuring the PAC fulfils its duty towards the people of Malta.
Too many MPs forget they are there to serve, rather than act like mini regents, surrounded by supplicants and aides whose livelihoods depend on them.
Until voters start to demand honesty and truth from their leaders at the polling booth, entitled jerks will continue to masquerade as true politicians.