Legal justice and political justice have different paths. Both may share facts but while one addresses criminal activity after the fact, the other is obliged to prevent that activity which is not in the national interest. Legal justice is best left for the judicial process. I speak here only of political justice which falls upon the government, kept under scrutiny by the opposition, by civil society and by journalists.
For at least five years, Malta tried to survive without political justice. We tried to survive despite rampant impunity that normalised corruption. Honest businesses, professionals and workers strived to earn their income conscientiously. They competed with a prime minister, politicians and persons in positions of trust who used their political power for their own personal service rather than for the good of the country.
These were five years of impunity based on the hijacking and capture of public institutions by persons who must have really felt protected as members of a network that somehow normalised all the type of behaviour that is otherwise felt to be so abhorrent in a modern democracy.
Five years since that February 2016 publication by journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. More came in March and every subsequent day until her brutal assassination.
In April 2016, the Panama Papers leak spilled more beans and week after week other journalists joined her in clearly spelling out the network of self-serving elected and non-elected officers.
These were five years of impunity based on the hijacking and capture of public institutions
It is significant that we were informed of this corrupt power by journalists. Although the obligation to prevent corruption and to promote good governance falls primarily on public institutions and the government, it was neither of these who exposed that which was dismantling Malta’s reputation. Rather than stop the abuse, those tasked with preventing it chose to protect abuse of power.
Instead of transparency and accountability, they chose protection of improper administration and corrupt wielding of power.
This week we witnessed a small step that could be a significant opportunity for Malta to regain its integrity. It wasn’t the government who took any first steps of accountability. It is indeed still journalists who continue to hold the government accountable. It is still journalists who continue to expose how the current administration is still choosing to protect its appointees with impunity.
Despite a change in prime minister, Robert Abela continues to offer protection to those who are exposed as being self-serving rather than serve the public interest.
Persons exposed by the media as having been involved in questionable behaviour remain protected. Government members prefer to attack the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life rather than risk having Joseph Muscat and Castille exposed in unethical behaviour.
When legal justice is seen to apply to everyone irrespective of how well protected persons might have been, it gives us as a country a significant opportunity to push for political justice to happen. Today, we can all expect more from the prime minister.
Expect him to clean up his act, to stop protecting those who work against Malta and to appoint only persons who are willing to serve the national interest by following methods of good governance and by being accountable and answerable to the people.
A lot remains to be done for us to show that as a nation we are convinced that good governance is the sustainable way of establishing an economy, society and culture of integrity.
As an opposition we must continue to ensure that the significance of this small legal action translates into a significant step for the governance of our country.
Families, workers, businesses and professionals should not continue to be robbed of their peace of mind because the administration chooses to capture state entities and offer impunity to bad governance.
Therese Comodini Cachia, Nationalist Party spokesperson on human rights, good governance and rule of law.