A Republic for the few

Malta is clearly a plutocracy – a de facto one-party state, where parliament and government, ‘stable’ Nationalist or Labour governments, alternate to keep up appearances of democracy. In fact they are just a façade for the ruling class of the wealthiest minority. A substantial proportion of the population tags along, either because they have a finger in the pie, because they thrive on ‘favours’ or else because they are too afraid to do anything about the situation.

Others are gullible enough to believe anything thrown at them, line, hook and sinker. 

Many just become victims of the system.

Joseph Muscat’s and Simon Busuttil’s aiding and abetting of gross negligence and flouting of the law by the fish farming multimillionaires is one in a string of news stories that point towards the plutocratic nature of our so called ‘republic’.

Labour and PN’s much flaunted ‘stability’ is in fact a guarantee that the few can rest assured that they are safe to do as they please at the expense of everyone else.

The fish farm saga is unbelievable. A company with 13 illegal 90-metre cages, another one with six illegal tuna cages, and yet another one with double the number of permitted cages. Government blames weak laws and permitting systems full of holes.

There are in fact a host of laws not related to fish farming but to pollution and dumping in general that can be used to bring them into line. The mere fact that a huge number of fish farm cages are illegal should be more than enough for government to order their removal.

The mere fact that a huge number of fish farm cages are illegal should be more than enough for government to order their removal. Ralph Cassar

The excuse of independent authorities is used to avoid quick action. But in fact government has every right, not to mention duty, to demand that laws are enforced and observed. Simon Busuttil confirmed the PN’s long-standing attitude of closing both eyes when it comes to multimillionaire interests.

A serious country would not have closed its eyes for 11 whole years: it would have seen the extra cages removed and slapped multi-million euro fines to pay for the clean-up operations, with extra funds going towards the authorities in charge of the sector.

These companies make hundreds of millions of Euros in profit – at least half of it by flouting the law. In the meantime the Prime Minister is ‘disappointed’ and the PN leader says the Prime Minister is taking a harsh stance. Seriously?

Leo Brincat’s statements in front of a European Parliament committee show that Maltese politicians in high places do not have the courage to take a stand on serious governance issues;

The blanket amnesty on gross planning irregularities; the not so distant opening up of millions of square metres of land for even more development in 2006; the cases of illegalities in Wied Incita in Attard - on which no effective action was taken – the Gasan-Tumas highrise projects; the Caqnu Hal Farrug monument to our cowboy republic, and many others, confirm my thesis that Malta is a plutocracy masquerading as a democracy.

At the end of the day, government and parliamentarians reflect the attitudes, priorities and mentality of those who vote for them.

I am not talking about different points of view, policies and ideologies here – but the lack of basic democratic and good governance values.

Are you propping up this Banana Republic through your vote for PN and PL?