George Vella’s speech on Republic Day was his last official address as the 10th President of the Republic.
Like his predecessors, the president used this commemoration to give an overview of the current state of our nation.
Choosing his words astutely, maybe even more audaciously than in previous years, knowing that the first and last official presidential speeches are always the most important, the president underlined some of the challenges that our nation is currently experiencing.
In fact, the president spoke about the environment, overdevelopment, climate change, drug abuse, overpopulation, corruption and the brutal assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Personally, I consider the most intriguing part of his speech was when he dared to query: “Where is Malta heading?” “Where will we take Malta in the future?”
These are provocative questions that we ought to challenge ourselves with. More so if we aspire to make a quantum leap on our democratic journey, particularly this year when we commemorate 60 years of Independence, 50 years of becoming a Republic and 20 years since joining the European Union.
These commemorations should not only serve to celebrate our past political milestones but also to urge us to undergo an assertive and thoughtful appraisal of our nation.
Although the government highlights a strong GDP, we are fast losing not only our national identity and our heritage but also our eagerness to be an honest law-abiding nation.
While experiencing economic success, are we facing a national meltdown? Never before during our political journey, not even in our darkest hours, were we faced with such a political predicament and ethical vacuum.
Malta is fast becoming unrecognisable on various levels. The everlasting stories about systematic sleaze, cronyism, the ‘anything goes’ mentality, skulduggery, waste of taxpayers’ money and the abysmal lack of good governance have become the norm rather than the exception.
Many of our authorities, such as the police force, the attorney general, the Planning Authority and other national regulators are conspicuous by their absence of duty.
On the other hand, a few, acting as the power behind the throne, have, sadly, hijacked the government’s agenda to satisfy their self-gratification at the expense of the common good. To add insult to injury, a growing number of our citizens are becoming weary of our political class and the way we do politics.
In crude terms, are we facing our own Dark Age?
Is our first Republic dead?
Many tend to concur with such a statement. Only the blinkered are unable to see.
In my books, we urgently need to reclaim our nation. We need to rediscover once more our roots and our values that have defined us throughout the years as a hardworking honest nation.
We are fast losing our national identity and our heritage- Albert Buttigieg
The more time we take to persuade ourselves to do so, not only will it be harder to recover from such degeneration but will alienate further a number of our citizens, in particular the young.
Our procrastination will only lead to a democratic vacuum, which, in turn, can jeopardise our own democratic credentials.
Hence, there is an urgency to experience our own renaissance, which will pave the way for the dawn of our Second Republic.
It is high time that we embark on this new democratic chapter.
In the Second Republic, we must ensure that our various levels of institutions of governance are truly independent and autonomous.
We need to be bold and assertive enough to usher in a European way of thinking.
We need a radical shift of mentality regarding education, urban planning, inclusion, integration and minority rights, traffic management, quality of life, enforcement, tourism, management of local councils and our electoral system while, above all, addressing the elephant in the room: our party financing.
Malta badly needs an overhaul.
In the coming months, we are to decide who our 11th president will be.
Let me quote what the president said in his last speech: “We do have people who are capable of occupying high positions in our country. Let us set aside our bickering and stubbornness and pick, out of the many eligible candidates, keeping our eyes set on our country’s best interest, those we consider to be the most capable of doing justice in that role.”
Beyond our political trenches, I truly hope that the next president, whoever he or she may be, will not only be our ceremonial head of state but also a catalyst who not only brings us together as one nation but will be able to usher in the necessary constitutional changes that honest Malta demands and rightfully deserves.
We owe it to our children.
Albert Buttigieg is the Nationalist Party’s spokesperson for a better standard of living.