The Bartolo-Camilleri affair will not go away

If anybody within the Labour Party is thinking that the Bartolo-Camilleri affair will disappear, they are mistaken. At this stage, even with Clayton Bartolo resigning – for reasons other than the ethics breach – the damage is done. 

This affair will be to Labour what the €500 ministerial wage increase incident was to the Gonzi administration between 2008 and 2013. It will keep coming back because there is nothing more than in-your-face sleaze that ordinary, decent and honest taxpaying citizens are bothered with. And with an Opposition that was quick on the ball to push out the catchy phrase ‘Frodi Biss, Frodi Spiss’ to describe Abela’s faltering administration, the dye has been cast. 

Hearing Robert Abela speak in parliament on Monday during the budget estimates debate for the Office of the Prime Minister, it is clear, he believes people will eventually forget the whole affair once the generous tax cut takes effect in January. It’s all about the money for the Prime Minister and he may be right in this respect because people will always gauge an administration’s performance based on how better off they personally are. But the Prime Minister has made one simple miscalculation – the Bartolo-Camilleri affair is also about the money. 

No tax cut and Children’s Allowance increase will ever match the substantial wage increase Clayton Bartolo’s now wife, Amanda Muscat, received, at the behest of, first her husband and later his Cabinet buddy, Clint Camilleri. The revelations in the Times of Malta of a possible kickback Muscat received from a company that had a contract with the Malta Tourism Authority just made an already untenable situation worse. 

This is a situation that has already spiralled into popular lore. In every pjazza, at every bar, the word ‘sorry’ – said with a mischievous grin – has already permeated public consciousness. Whenever someone feels jilted by a public service denied or not up to expectation, the words ‘of course, I’m not the minister’s girlfriend’ are spoken. And as for MCAST lecturers still fighting their battle for a decent collective agreement – a situation that has left students clutching at the straws of despair – they cannot help but wonder whether their predicament would have been different had the minister’s wife been one of their own. 

Abela and the PL are mistaken to believe this affair will blow away as if nothing has happened. The sooner they realise this, the more they avoid embarrassing their own MPs and officials, who are being pushed out there to defend the indefensible. 

Naomi Cachia, the government Whip, and Georvin Bugeja, the head of the PL’s youth forum – both young, intelligent politicians who have much to offer – were pathetic on Xtra last Monday as they tried to defend something they evidently were uncomfortable with. The kickback revelations that forced Bartolo out and which came 24 hours after their TV appearance only made them look like fools. Nothing surprising here – MPs had faced a similar situation in the Jean Paul Sofia public inquiry vote in parliament when they were constrained to toe the party line only for the Prime Minister to change his mind a couple of days later. 

The Bartolo-Camilleri affair comes on the heels of the Vitals scandal. This project was mired in fraud, deceit and criminal intent. As a result, there was an opportunity cost because public investments to increase hospital bed space, invest in new mental health facilities, build a bigger emergency department at Mater Dei and construct a new mother and child hospital were all postponed. The public got the short end of the stick and is today suffering the consequences of a health service that is creaking under the weight of inaction. 

The Bartolo-Camilleri affair is just the cherry on the cake and every honest, right-thinking Labour Party official knows this. The question is will anyone in the Labour Party stand up and be counted? We will not hold our breath. 

Bartolo’s departure is not enough. Camilleri must also resign and a thorough police investigation should take place. Any attempt to try and defend the ministers should stop so that justice can be allowed to take its course. 

As for the Prime Minster, he has lost control of events by not sticking to a golden yardstick – that of kicking out anyone found guilty of a serious ethical breach by the Standards Commissioner. Instead, of anticipating problems, Abela has ended up trying to catch up with events, inevitably prolonging the damage to his administration and the party.