Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1530039
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 MARCH 2022 OPINION 2 maltatoday EXECUTIVE EDITOR KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Letters to the Editor, MaltaToday, Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 E-mail: dailynews@mediatoday.com.mt Letters must be concise, no pen names accepted, include full name and address maltatoday | SUNDAY • 1 DECEMBER 2024 Sexualising a woman is not accountability Editorial THE scandal around Clayton Bartolo came to a head last week when he was forced to resign fol- lowing reports that his wife, Amanda Muscat, received tens of thousands of euros from a pri- vate firm in a suspected kickback related to an MTA contract. The insinuation here is that the money was destined for Bartolo himself, who was until last week, tourism minister. The couple have been in the spotlight ever since the Standards Commissioner found that Bartolo and Gozo minister Clint Camilleri breached ethics by giving Muscat a lucrative consultancy job she was unqualified for. The spotlight should be on them. Appoint- ing an unqualified person to a government role simply because the person was at the time the minister's girlfriend, is a clear-cut example of nepotism. It's a violation of the principles that uphold merit and fairness in public office. This should be the focus of our collective outrage. However, it seems that most of the social me- dia comments on the matter have been directed primarily towards Muscat, and have taken on a sexualising tone. Amanda Muscat is a person of agency and should be criticised for her behaviour as a pub- lic official, accepting a sham promotion from her partner and possibly receiving kickbacks on his behalf. Criticisms on her looks, clothes, or sexuality have nothing to do with the matter. Some may remark that, since Muscat received her sham promotion because she was the min- ister's girlfriend at the time, then that puts her sex life up for scrutiny. Let's remember that no one scrutinised the sex life of Daniel Bogdanovic, who received a lucra- tive government contract while dating Justyne Caruana, when this story came to light in 2021. No one should have scrutinised his sex life, or posted sexual images about him, because this is all beyond the issue at hand. The issue then, as it is now, was that a minister gifted their part- ner a government job they were unqualified for. The problem isn't their sex life – the problem is nepotism. Reducing this controversy to salacious gossip undermines serious conversations about the abuse of power in government. Worse, it rein- forces a culture where women are scrutinised through a lens of sexism, regardless of their role in a controversy. Over the years we have heard government scandals of women trading in influence, ac- cepting sham consultancies, and awarding bogus contracts. Every time, the social media discourse gravitates towards the woman as a sexual object first, and a public official second. When we comment on women in public life in this way, we are doing a disservice to ourselves. Instead of calling for accountability and trans- parency, we comment on her clothes, her ap- pearance, her sexuality. We seem to be quicker to sexualise a woman in power than hold her accountable for her actions. The point of this argument is not to detract from Muscat's wrongdoings as a public official. In fact, it is because of her shameful behaviour while working in the civil service that we must rise above sexualising remarks and hold her ac- countable on a political level. We do not hold women accountable by sex- ualising them. We hold women accountable in the same way we do men – accountabili- ty frameworks, independent oversight, legal mechanisms. We have a duty to scrutinise their actions as public officials but their looks, cloth- ing and sexuality have nothing to do with their ability to lead, and mislead. Let us also not forget that the power balance in this situation. It is Clayton Bartolo, who held elected office at the time, who abused of his power and gifted his partner a sham consultan- cy package. Muscat is far from an innocent by- stander, but Bartolo is the one who perpetuated the wrongdoing and abused the trust placed in him by voters. We must focus on the structural issues at hand and resist the temptation to scapegoat or demean individuals based on their gender. True accountability requires us to keep our atten- tion where it belongs – on those who wield and abuse power. If we truly care about justice and integrity, we must hold the right people accountable without falling into the trap of misogyny. Anything less is a disservice to the values we claim to defend. Quote of the Week "The time when people do not pay tax is over. People in the country realised the government prioritises tax collection, and does so seriously." Finance Minister Clyde Caruana speaking in parliament during the budget estimates debate for his ministry. MaltaToday 10 years ago 30 November 2014 Scotsman's arrest report is deleted AN internal police investigation has been launched into the deletion from a police re- port of details of the arrest of Scotsman Ste- phen Smith and the result of a breathalyser test he took. The deletions were made from the original computer record. The serious shortcoming introduces a new twist into the saga which has enveloped the serious incident in which the Scotsman was involved when his vehicle was shot at and hit twice by home affairs minister Manuel Mallia's security driver on the evening of Wednesday, 19 November. For one, it is expected to put more pres- sure on the police force. The Opposition has repeatedly claimed that a cover-up was underway on the night that the government claimed that securi- ty driver Paul Sheehan fired two "warning shots" in the air, and has put pressure on Jo- seph Muscat to sack his minister. How the new twist will affect the minister's fortunes is yet to be seen. MaltaToday is reliably informed that an internal investigation is underway into the deletion of the data. ...