Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1523374
7 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 JUNE 2024 OPINION That white elephant in the room WE are coming up close to four weeks from the European elections results and there has been little or no sign from Cas- tille of a change of sorts. There needs to be a shake up or else, no one should be surprised if in the next election, the Labour Party is kicked out of Castille. No one has been called in to write up a serious and analytical report about the election result. For all their faults, former political leaders commissioned reports about their failures. I remember in one election, both the PL and PN asked God- frey Grima to write a report. Godfrey had a great critical mind. As expected, very few did anything about Godfrey's suggestions. So it is now left to us to determine what are the main reasons for the govern- ment's political failures. You have all heard them before, so I will not repeat them again here, but if there is one big white elephant in the room that continues to evade any mention in the Labour inner circle it has got to be the one and only Joseph Muscat. The whole Vitals case dragged everyone down with it, to the extent that many are now asking if this was not the original in- tention in the first place. To be more precise – to avoid having all floodlights on Muscat, police investiga- tions that should have happened follow- ing the conclusion of the inquiry were purposely halted, and all the men and women mentioned in the inquiry were charged. This resulted led to immense disruption in the family lives of many of the people involved. There is little doubt that the Vitals scan- dal was and is the responsibility of Mus- cat, Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi. What is shocking is that after the Pana- ma Papers revelations in 2016, and after the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017, nothing seems to have shaken their resolve to stop making a mess of things with Vitals and Steward. On the contrary they continued to cre- ate structures that benefitted them at the expense of taxpayers' money. But back to the election result. No one it seems wants to admit that it was Joseph Muscat's action that led to this painful result for Labour. Yes, the Labour gov- ernment has made a mess of so many other things such as the environment with a Muscat concocted planning policy that has changed the face of Malta and given big business Malta's footprint on a plate. Or the bulging dependence on foreign workers to feed big business. But all this is not the main reason that people denied Labour a repeat super majority. No, the reason that they chose to aban- don Labour, is because of Muscat's dirty games. And it will only get worse as they see that Muscat continues unabashedly to act as a football fixer and chief and still enjoys the perks of government with fully paid staff and offices. I must agree with PN spokesperson Karol Aquilina that the government should sever all ties and assistance to Jo- seph Muscat. That, I am afraid will not happen. The Labour government needs to come clean and get real. It cannot continue hiding from the stark truth that the real reason for its demise is Muscat himself. He is the rocket that broke through the stratosphere and the same rocket that fell into the ocean. Never have we seen such a blatant and focused attempt by a select few to en- rich themselves at the expense of public funds. And never has there ever been such an attempt to do this by disguising oneself as the good and benevolent so- cialist while robbing the State. And because many believed in them and sincerely thought that they were well meaning and upright, the anger for them is simply immeasurable. The thing that hurts me most is to see hypocrites such as the failed PN politi- cian Jason Azzopardi who lashes out at Muscat but never lets his select audience know that he works for the same big businesses that use the services of Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri. But back to Labour and specifically to Robert Abela. Many would say that to recognise that a previous leader and administration made some serious mistakes would re- flect badly on him. But Abela is the PM who waved a green flag to many reforms to bolster regulation of the financial ser- vices sector and the fight against finan- cial crime, a regime demanded primarily by the US despite its rather shaky con- stitutional standing. He was the PM who asked ministers to resign on the least sign of political impropriety. So, why should he not detach himself once and for all from Muscat? Like surgery it will be painful in the be- ginning but not in the long run. Politics is all about timing and the timing is now. Muscat continues unabashedly to act as a football fixer and chief and still enjoys the perks of government with fully paid staff and offices Saviour Balzan Saviour Balzan is founder and co-owner of Media Today, publisher of MaltaToday, he is a TV host and pollster The Labour government needs to come clean and get real. It cannot continue hiding from the stark truth that the real reason for its demise is Muscat himself. He is the rocket that broke through the stratosphere and the same rocket that fell into the ocean.