Under Labour, we witnessed rising risk of poverty, rising homelessness and rising crime, as we as the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. On the other hand, we also witnessed rising cronyism, rising corruption that is costing our country over €700 million yearly, rising money laundering and, on top of everything, rising inequality as the gap between the rich and the poor is widening.

This is the country that Joseph Muscat is bequeathing his people, who twice gave him a super majority of votes and whom he twice was unable to govern for a whole legislature.

Following the 2013 victory, he only governed for four years. In 2017, he was given a resounding victory only to govern for two and a half years. That is six and a half years when he promised two legislatures, which should comprise 10 years.

Today, more information is unfolding about how his last victory was achieved, not only through the power of incumbency, which Labour always stretches to the limits, but also by the power of corrupt practices. This includes giving jobs on the eve of the election, as happened in Gozo when about a thousand people were given jobs in the public sector.

We have also had an individual, Melvin Theuma – the middleman in the assassination of Caruana Galizia and the person who was given the presidential pardon – who testified that he was given a job in the public sector on the eve of the general election. He was given a job he did not ask for and for which he was paid without ever going to work. If this is not a corrupt practice, I don’t know what is.

Malta has experienced the worst crisis since Independence – a crisis that not only harmed our country’s reputation worldwide but also our economy.

Corruption occurs from above, not from the bottom up

In 2020, our country may well be blacklisted and, if that were to happen, the harm would be unimaginable. The EU could also trigger off Article 7 which would mean we could face sanctions.

A few weeks ago, Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, who will probably take over from Joseph Muscat as prime minster, declared that nearly irreparable damage had been caused to our country. Indeed, we will need at least another 10 years to begin repairing that damage. Quite a legacy for Muscat to leave behind.

The fact that Muscat did not move out immediately has caused further terrible damage to the country.

It has now been established that Auberge de Castille was the centre of all mischief. According to Theuma, he was introduced to Keith Schembri by Yorgen Fenech. Schembri took him around the auberge, offered him a coffee and they took a photo together before introducing him to Sandro Craus, the head of customer care at Castille.

Craus offered Theuma a job with the public sector. Another person, Kenneth Camilleri, Joseph Muscat’s bodyguard, visited Theuma at the latter’s home and phoned someone who Theuma believed to be Keith Schembri.

The mind boggles.

Muscat wants us to believe he knew nothing about what was happening under his watch. I do not think that Muscat is naive or a fool. After all, he cannot say that he was not advised about what was happening.  He knew that Minister Konrad Mizzi and Schembri opened secret accounts in Panama, but instead of nipping these facts in the bud, he kept on supporting them. He did nothing even after it emerged that a company, 17 Black, was opened in Dubai to siphon off €5,000 a day (more than a year’s pension for thousands of Maltese) to the secret accounts of Mizzi and Schembri in Panama. Muscat kept Mizzi, Schembri and Brian Tonna of Nexia BT – the person who opened the accounts in Panama – next to his him in Castille.

Whoever takes over from Muscat must start from scratch. He must start by making a clean sweep of Castille. Not one single person whose name was tarnished with the assassination of Caruana Galizia, corruption, kickbacks or money laundering should stay in Castille.

The “new broom” must sweep every suspected person out and put people’s minds at rest that these people will be interrogated by the police and prosecuted.

President Lopez Obredor of Mexico, a man dedicated to fighting graft, said that “corruption occurs from above, not from the bottom up”. We all know how true this declaration is.

Only the brave will get us through this mess. It will only happen if civil society and the Opposition Nationalist Party go on pressing for all those who did so much damage to our country to be replaced. The new Labour leadership should show that they can govern without fear or favour. 

Joseph Zahra is a former editor of the Nationalist Party daily In-Nazzjon Tagħna.