Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1188424
6 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 27 NOVEMBER 2019 NEWS ANALYSIS FOR the past three years the prime minister has deliberately chosen to keep Keith Schembri, his chief of staff and person of trust, in office. His res- ignation was announced to the public by Muscat while Schembri was facing a police interrogation related to on- going investigations on the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination probe. The PM is to be blamed for putting the country in a Catch-22 situation, torn between respecting a strong elec- toral mandate which the government enjoys, and holding those responsible in power – not just for unethical and potentially criminal behaviour – but in the PM's case, for fatal political misjudgements. From strong mandate to moral bankruptcy Labour has a clear mandate to gov- ern and complete this legislature. This mandate was reinforced by a strong performance in mid- term elections and a strong economy. Just six months ago, Muscat was at the peak of elec- toral popularity, a living testimony to the tattoo 'Invictus' believed to be in- scribed on his right bicep. Moreover over the past years Malta had drifted further to a semi-presi- dential system where the prime min- ister incarnates the mandate and gen- erates loyalty beyond the party's more restricted constituency. Any demand for his resignation can easily be inter- preted as an attempt to subvert elec- toral results. But Malta now finds itself facing its greatest political earthquake in con- temporary history, led by a Prime Minister who for three years refused to sack a minister and a chief of staff who not had not only set up secret companies in Panama after the 2013 election, but had listed 17 Black – a company owned by Tumas magnate Yorgen Fenech – as a 'target client' from whom they planned to receive €5,000 a day. The moment Fenech was investigat- ed in relation to the police probe on the 'commissioned assassination' of Daphne Caruana Galizia. the position of Mizzi and Schembri became even more untenable. Yet even at this stage Muscat remained reticent on firing them. It was only when Schembri himself was taken for interrogation, that heads started rolling. Normally in such circumstances the country needs strong leadership. Mus- cat immediately reacted to Caruana Galizia's assassination by promising to leave no stone unturned in solving this case, and his words were matched by the arrest of the three executioners weeks after the murder. At that stage Muscat emerged stronger than ever. He was rewarded by greater public support. Muscat may be tempted to think he can repeat the act, by at least hanging on till the culprits for Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder are brought to justice. But in so doing he risks presiding over the implosion of his government. While the arrests of the middleman now offered a pardon and Fenech sug- gest that the institutions are function- ing well, Muscat himself is too com- promised to take on this role. The situation is messier than it was in the aftermath of Caruana Gali- zia's assassination, for a number of reasons. The optics are surely not in the PM's favour. Even in the absence of any direct involvement by close po- litical aides, Yorgen Fenech's name is too associated with Labour's boldest electoral promise in 2013: that of pri- vatising the energy supply to deliver cheaper bills and cleaner fuel, vital in having secured Labour's 'super major- ity'. Secondly, through 17 Black, Fenech's name is associated with that of high government officials both of whom were inexplicably kept in office by Is Joseph Muscat's position Labour has a mandate to govern till 2022 but Joseph Muscat's moral authority has been compromised to the point of no return. What is to be done? asks James Debono This cannot but be interpreted as self-inflicted harm by a PM who for reasons he only knows, refused to act in the appropriate time-frame to nip this problem in the bud.