Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1421642
18 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 OCTOBER 2021 JAMES DEBONO A MaltaToday survey showed widespread distrust in the gov- ernment's ability to fight cor- ruption, with 57% expressing a negative judgement on Labour's anti-corruption credentials. Yet only 7% thought that corrup- tion was the most important issue facing the country. The finding is disturbing coming in the wake of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia and the arraignment of a power- ful businessman with intimate ties to the political class for her murder. These results can be inter- preted as a clear sign that cor- ruption is not a vote-winner and parties should focus on the issues that matter for the elec- torate. But here are five reasons why this would be wrong and harmful to society and the well- being of future generations. The fact that corruption is low in people's electoral priorities despite all that happened in the past years is itself an in- dictment of what is wrong in Maltese politics: namely, trib- alism Tribalism was the greatest obstacle to a national awaken- ing following Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder. A pervading mentality that "my party's shit smells better than yours" has resulted in a zero-sum game where the sins of each side end up cancelling the sins of the other, resulting in a situation where redemption remains elu- sive. This is why it is impossible to eradicate corruption without addressing tribalism. But that would need a serious commitment for electoral re- form, a reform of public broad- casting, the abolition of the par- ty-owned media and concrete steps to regulate lobbying by businessmen and party financ- ing. It is telling that on the eve of an election, and despite all that happened since 2015, par- liament has still to approve a re- vised code of ethics to regulate gifts to politicians; and Malta still lacks a transparency reg- ister where meetings between ministers and businessmen are recorded. Abela could win a bigger ma- jority that Muscat's: he'll ei- ther be the continuity candi- date or the statesman to shed Labour's entrenched regime image and lead its moral re- newal Wishful thinkers believe that a strong vote for Robert Abela, possibly with a larger margin of votes than Joseph Muscat, would give him the mandate to ditch his predecessor's legacy whose mandate he inherited. A strong mandate would certainly make Abela his own man. But this gives the impres- sion that the buck stops with arraigning and investigating the corrupt cabal surrounding Muscat, taking away the focus from reforms needed to stop the cycle from happening again. Without Abela's own 'Khrus- chev moment', a strong vote for Abela's Labour may well be interpreted that the electorate has also absolved this legisla- ture despite the long list of cor- ruption scandals which plagued it. By side-lining the issue, Ab- ela would be sending a mixed message to his electorate, which includes many who still believe that nothing was actual- ly wrong and that corruption is an invention of the opposition. But to address this Abela also has to ditch the army of syco- phants, including those on the party media, which downplay corruption by acting like the mouthpieces for some Third World regime, just with the aim of entrenching their party in power forever. Like the mythological Janus, Abela will probably seek to keep his electoral bloc united, giving an impression of change to those appalled by his prede- cessor's antics, and an impres- sion of continuity to those who still adore Muscat. The risk is that Abela will keep his two fac- es even after the election. Instead Abela can make two clear commitments: that of leaving no stone unturned in investigating all deals involving Yorgen Fenech, Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri, and to in- troduce a firewall between his party and big business, which would prevent this from hap- pening again. The solution to clientelism is not a technocracy for 'whizz- kids' like Konrad Mizzi, but an overhaul of party financing laws which limits spending by aspiring politicians While his candidates have spent lavishly on their constit- uency offices in the last two years, Abela has suggested that Malta needs to discuss reforms through which the PM can di- rectly appoint technocrats. Let's not forget that Kon- rad Mizzi was introduced to the electorate as some kind of all-knowing whizz-kid. Tech- nocrats, especially those en- trenched in the private sector, bring with them a baggage of conflict of interests, and con- nections which further erode any notion of a firewall between business and politics. Even dictators like Francisco Franco and Augusto Pinochet relied on technocrats to govern the economy but that did not save their countries from both corruption and murderous au- thoritarianism. A strong democracy is one which produces capable politi- cians, not one which has to re- sort to 'experts' to make up for their incompetence. The opposition failed us by weaponising corruption in- stead of fighting for structural change and communicating this as the basis of a manifesto based on transparency, fair- ness and equality The opposition and some of its perceived allies are at fault for weaponising corruption in a bid to fast-track their way back to power. In this mind-frame the opposition still finds it hard to recognise that Abela has tak- en some significant steps to re- store institutional sanity in the country. Not only have some overdue reforms been implemented un- der pressure of FATF and Euro- Corruption is not a top issue for many: so should we stop talking about it? Why is corruption so low on the list of the electorate's priorities? James Debono gives six reasons why this is so and why politicians should not interpret this as an alibi for sidelining the issue It was corruption in the form of the undue influence of big business on politicians that led to the assassination of Daphne. The government's failure to send a message of healing by recognising Daphne Caruana Galizia as a victim of the criminal nexus sends a chilling message