Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1399957
15 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 AUGUST 2021 NEWS The reality is that while under Muscat the party was deliber- ately covering up its own mis- deeds, under Abela the party seems keen on starting a fresh page. And following a public in- quiry which exposed a culture of impunity that gave people like Yorgen Fenech an impres- sion they were omnipotent, one would have expected contrition and action rather than a tit-for- tat billboard shuffle. Some would argue that with its 2017 majority intact, Labour can afford to ignore the prob- lem, mock the PN by exposing its weakest link and still win big, also by banking on the in- evitable own-goals from the other side. For as predictable as the PL's billboard tit-for-tat, was the raising of stakes by for- mer party leader Simon Busuttil who called for the resignation of the President in view of the inquiry's attribution of collec- tive responsibility to Muscat's cabinet. Busuttil's declaration weighs heavily on a party which un- der Grech is at least trying to pick its battles in a more intel- ligent way. And while Zammit Lewis's mockery of the Labour voter turned him in the perfect target, the austere and sober George Vella simply does not fit the bill. Surely Vella, like all Labour MPs with the exception of Evarist Bartolo, should have spoken out against Mizzi and Schembri in 2016, but purging anyone who was silent back then would mean decimating the Cabinet and the institu- tions. At this stage, to be con- sistent with this attribution of collective responsibility shared by Abela himself in his role as Muscat's consultant, the PN's only option is to call for the resignation of Abela and his cabinet and for a general elec- tion to be held now. Yet the risk would be that the result would ultimately absolve Labour in its entirety as hap- pened in 2017. Mixed message to voters By resorting to Muscat's tried and tested tactic of absolving Labour's misdeeds by constant reference to PN double-stand- ards, the party is once again sending a mixed message to its voters and supporters. In doing so, it suggests that the enemy is not corruption itself but the hy- pocrisy on the other side. The reality is that back in 2016 the party would have been better served if its focus was in erad- icating the cancer eating into Labour's moral credentials, rather than engaging in petty tribal wars. In this sense Labour's re- sponse to the PN billboard may be its pound of flesh to support- ers whose identity is shaped by puerile antipathy towards the other side. But it is this mental- ity in both parties which makes change impossible. Simply put, 'what smells bad on the other side smells good on my side'. In this sense it is no surprise that the message ends up enabling corruption by es- tablishing Labour's right to be as corrupt as the Nationalists were when in government. Yet ultimately both parties are making a mockery of the electorate by engaging in a bill- board war at this present junc- ture. While one has to recognise that the PN has for once came up with a witty billboard which tempestuously latched onto La- bour's weakest link, the party seems increasingly reluctant to stand up to the hold of big busi- ness on the political class. One pertinent question the PN has to answer is where the money comes from for this premature start of the campaign, which has seen the party put on bill- boards and employing new gu- rus? Instead the country would be in a much better state if par- liament focuses on the root of the problem: the lack of a fire- wall between the political class and the business class. Not only has this contributed to corrupt deals, but also facilitated the capture of the institutions by officials, including members of the police force, who allegedly derailed investigations in the Caruana Galizia murder probe while enjoying friendships with the alleged mastermind. But that would also mean rad- ically reforming party financing laws and enacting a code of eth- ics, which makes it obligatory for MPs to declare any meeting or gifts from the business class. The elusive second republic Can we trust this responsibil- ity to two political parties bred in a toxic system? Ironically it was Joseph Mus- cat, the man who promised the birth of a second republic, who exposed the sickness of the first republic when he turned poachers into gamekeepers and which became an attempt by a clique rooted in politics, busi- ness and the criminal world, to capture the state and its insti- tutions. In such a context, the coun- try may be better served if this task is devolved to an elected constituent assembly, whose independent members' role is strictly restricted to political and constitutional reforms re- quired for the birth of a second republic. This will give the reform pro- cess democratic legitimacy, while divorcing it from elec- toral cycles determining vot- ers' choice of government. This may be no panacea, as political parties are bound to influence the composition of any elected body, but at least it would give the opportunity to the elector- ate to discuss reforms proposed by non-attached candidates in a process culminating in the approval of these reforms in a national referendum. By absolving Labour's misdeeds with PN double- standards, the party suggests that the enemy is not corruption itself but the hypocrisy on the other side. It is this mentality in both parties which makes change impossible