Robert Abela must admit that what happened on his party’s watch was wrong, apologise and assume political responsibility

The historic arraignment on March 20 of Keith Schembri triggered several reactions. But none as predictable as that of Prime Minister Robert Abela who immediately chimed in with his mantra that “the institutions are working”.

I hate to break it to the prime minister, but they are not.

The arraignment of Joseph Muscat’s right-hand man, does not prove that the institutions work. Quite the opposite.

When, in 2017, I filed one court case after another to trigger the magisterial inquiries that are now finally leading to arraignments, I did so because the authorities did not do it themselves.

The then prime minister refused to take action against his own chief of staff, nor assume any responsibility himself. And he did so in the comfort that our institutions would also refuse to act because he had stuffed them with cronies who owed allegiance to him.

Two of the magisterial inquiries that I started four years ago led to the only prosecutions we have seen so far on corruption. Without them, Schembri would still be dodging justice.

Moreover, we are still waiting for the outcome of my third magisterial inquiry on Daphne Caruana Galizia’s Panama Papers revelations, which is still pending.

This is a damning confirmation that the institutions are dysfunctional.

Although Abela has since replaced Muscat, there has been little evidence that he is prepared to allow the institutions to function where it matters most.

How else can we explain that the name of the former Labour deputy leader, Chris Cardona keeps coming up in Daphne’s murder trial and nothing happens? Or that a current minister is being implicated in an attempted bank heist and still sits in cabinet? Or that, with all that we know about his crooked deals, Konrad Mizzi is still a free man? Or that Muscat himself is not being investigated for complicity in any of the corruption scandals that plagued his government?

Sorry, but this does not prove that the institutions are working. It proves that under Abela we have continuity... of impunity.

Nor is the problem limited to our law enforcement agencies.

Muscat’s political capture extended to other institutions, including the Planning Authority, the Lands Authority, the Malta Tourism Authority, the Malta Gaming Authority and the Malta Financial Services Authority. All of them were or are still run by his henchmen. 

This total institutional capture allowed Muscat to run his government like a crime syndicate run from Castille, in total impunity.

In neighbouring Sicily, they call it mafia.  Abela must understand that, in taking over from Muscat, he replaced a man who acted like a mafia boss. Replacing the boss does not make a criminal organisation any more respectable.

In neighbouring Sicily, they call it mafia

All this has led to a total collapse of trust in our country’s institutions, and indeed of our country’s reputation. Now that that trust has been shattered, it needs to be rebuilt from scratch. Changing the boss is not enough. Nor are legal reforms enough if there is still no enforcement against the top guns. Nor will the problem go away by winning another election. The problem needs to be addressed at its root.

How can trust be rebuilt?

For trust to be rebuilt, Abela must first come clean, admit that what happened on his party’s watch was wrong, apologise and assume political responsibility. He must also dissociate himself completely from his disgraced predecessor. If that means facing the ire of Labour voters, he must be man enough to take it on the chin.

For credibility to be regained, the prime minister must also clean up his own party and government. He must rid them of all those who were compromised by Muscat; either through their active complicity or through their dereliction of duty.

For confidence to be restored, the prime minister must set free our public institutions from political capture and allow them to truly operate independently. Persons of trust must be replaced by persons of integrity and merit so that our institutions re-establish a track record of independence from the political masters of the day.

Crucially, for integrity to be re-established, the prime minister must stop obstructing justice, starting with his hounding of the public inquiry that is looking into the responsibility of the state (and ultimately, his own government) into the assassination of Caruana Galizia. 

And here is the crux of the matter: does the prime minister have the mettle to bring to justice, members of his own governing party? The onus to prove it is on him. What is certain is that spin and stunts about “the institutions are working” are no longer enough.

If he does deliver justice, it would be a start, although it would still take years to restore Malta’s reputation in the watchful eyes of the European Union and the world. For while it is easy to destroy trust, it takes a long time to rebuild it.

Trust cannot be bought. It needs to be earned.

Simon Busuttil, EPP secretary general