Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/973467
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 25 APRIL 2018 Analysis 6 IN the face of more concrete evidence provided by the Daphne Project, which estab- lishes a link between 17 Black and the two Panama compa- nies owned by Keith Schem- bri and Konrad Mizzi, Joseph Muscat has called on his sup- porters to rally on May 1. "The best reply we can give is on May 1, when the people will unite as one in Valletta to convey our message," he said on radio last Sunday. Sure enough May 1 – which commemorates international workers' day – has been a fixture on the Labour move- ment's calendar for decades. But never before the last two years, has the day been so in- tricately linked with the dark shadow cast by the Panama cloud. The ironic twist being that international workers' day has now been adulterated with the defence of political officials engaged in the sort of offshore business which makes social- ists in other countries cringe. From trial by votes to trial by crowds Turn back the clock by a year. On May 1, 2017 in a bullish speech Muscat announced that he was calling for a snap election a year ahead of its time. His decision to go for an election was justified by the fact that he himself was on the receiving end of the Egrant al- legations. The accusation backed by what was still at the time a faceless whistle-blower was too big to be ignored by the PM. This was because Daphne Caruana Galizia was claim- ing that his wife was not just the owner of a mysterious third company registered in Panama but was also receiv- ing funds from Azerbaijan. Muscat replied by calling it the "biggest lie in Maltese po- litical history." But the decision to go for a snap election also came in the wake of reports of al- leged kickbacks paid to Keith Schembri from the passport scheme. While the decision to go to the polls a year before the expiry of the legislature ef- fectively turned the election into a trial by votes, neither could Muscat afford remain- ing in office as a lame duck Prime Minister, awaiting the outcome of an inquiry, which has yet not been published a year later. Had Muscat not called for an election he would still be facing an election in the same position he was last year. Holding on in this way was politically untenable. Short of resigning until his name was cleared, the only realistic op- tion for Muscat at that point in time was to call for another mandate. While Egrant, which now bears the face of whistleblow- er Maria Efimova, may well come back to haunt Muscat in the future, it clearly back- fired on the Opposition in last year's election. This is because the allega- tions against Muscat's wife helped him in turning the fo- cus away from Panamagate. This shows how by raising the stakes in its drive to strike di- rectly at Muscat, the Opposi- tion simply managed to dig its own grave. Yet while one has to recog- nise that the election did con- firm the electorate's trust in Muscat, it did not in any way absolve Keith Schembri or Konrad Mizzi. In fact, polls had always shown that a majority of the population wanted them to resign. Post-electoral amnesia It is what happened after the election which exposes Mus- cat to the charge that he used the election result to white- wash lingering doubts on his government's good govern- ance credentials. For instead of using the scale of his vic- tory to clean up his stables, he used it to bolster the status quo. After trouncing the Oppo- sition by the same margin of 2013, he felt strong enough to reappoint Konrad Mizzi as Minister responsible for tourism and public private partnerships and retain Keith Schembri as his chief of staff. Since than the electoral mandate has been repeatedly invoked to justify the lack of any further action against the two. His reasoning may have been: If people still gave La- bour a 35K victory with Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi at the helm, why remove them from office now? The electoral result had al- ready been invoked to shoot down the conclusion of a rule of law investigation by MEPs in December. From elections to monster meetings Now the government takes comfort in countering the Daphne Project's revelations on 17 Black by resorting to an- other demonstration of sup- port for the government. This is being done at the risk of strengthening the percep- tion that he is resorting to mob rule to shoot down crit- ics. While the mass meeting can be perceived as a legitimate way to celebrate the govern- ment's achievements in the economy and social policy, the idea of giving foreign jour- nalists a "reply" has taken root on the social media and the PM has encouraged this feel- ing in his radio address. Yet, in reality, neither the election nor any subsequent polls have cast away the dark shadow cast on the Labour government's failure to inves- tigate the secret Panama com- panies in 2016. Furthermore no show of support will hide Malta from well-deserved international scrutiny. Calling a popular show of force to counter a project backed by respectable news organisations indicates signs of panic. Respecting the electoral mandate Yet while elections, polls and mass meetings cannot exorcise the spectre of Pana- ma, in the same way corrup- tion allegations, even those backed by mounting evidence (as is clearly the case with revelations on 17 Black), will not necessarily translate in a loss of support for Muscat. In fact, questioning Labour's electoral mandate on the basis of these allegations simply re- inforces Muscat's hand. For while one cannot exclude a slow erosion of consent as people slowly digest damning evidence with regards to Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi, expecting people to withdraw their consent is a step too far. The brutal assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has increased polari- sation, which pits those who defend government at all costs against those who in varying degrees blame Muscat for her murder. But Muscat will not be dis- appearing any time soon. This is because Labour was reconfirmed in office not be- cause of the Panama issue but because of economic pros- perity and tangible improve- ments in daily life ranging from free childcare to more civil liberties. In this sense Muscat can only be beaten politically by the Opposition parties if these can present a more coherent alternative, perhaps by focus- ing on concerns related to the deterioration of the quality of life; which is the other side of the coin of Muscat's 'economy on steroids'. In this sense good govern- ance, if widened to include these concerns, may well be the battle cry for change. Yet this is inevitably a long-term project, which depends on the PN's leadership's ability to un- derstand Maltese society. The limits of a movement So what are the realisable goals of the anti-corrup- tion movement which has emerged in the past months? At the very most, it can force Muscat to ditch Mizzi and Schembri and ensure that the institutions are strength- ened. Yet this aim can only be achieved by appealing to a segment of Labour voters. Keeping the spirits high in the echo chamber is not enough if one aspires to concrete change. Over the top condemna- tion of Muscat's government makes it even harder for peo- ple to move away from en- trenched positions. Muscat knows that this is unlikely to happen if the de- Popular participation in Mass meetings will not exorcise the spectre of Panama, which keeps haunting the Labour government. But so far the issue has not deprived Labour in terms of polling numbers Will a mass meeting exorcise Panamagate? JAMES DEBONO