A culture of responsibility-shirking

The ongoing ‘works for votes’ controversy, concerning public contracts abusively given out by the Gozo ministry, reveals once and for all that neither of the two main political parties has any monopoly on good governance.

Three whistleblowers have so far emerged, all Gozo-based building contractors, claiming to have been offered contracts by the Gozo ministry for works on private residences. These works remain partly or wholly unpaid to this day… which may explain why the whistleblowers came forward in the first place. This in turn suggests that the issue would have probably remained unreported, had the contractors got what they were owed in the first place.

All this points towards an internal systemic rot operating at various levels. There is more to this issue than abuse of taxpayers’ money for party-political ends… reprehensible though such abuse may be. The entire racket also exposes a tendency towards blatant nepotism in the public service, as well as – much more pertinently – an apparently pervasive, endemic culture of political patronage among the population at large.

It may be unfair to single out Gozo in this regard, as Malta is hardly immune to political patronage. But statistics do bear out that the number of Gozitans employed in the public sector, per capita, is much greater than the corresponding figure for Malta; and the ‘works for votes’ issue in itself points towards an endemic tendency to accept such blatant patronage as a way of life.

And yet, both political parties seem to be locked in a permanent tit-for-tat mentality, which ignores the more pressing concerns. Much of the criticism currently directed at Labour by the Nationalist opposition – in particular over the Café Premier bail-out, which likewise revolved around misuse of taxpayer funds – can just as easily be levelled at itself over the Gozo revelations. 

Conversely, the Muscat administration can hardly lay claim to the moral high ground on this issue. The bulk of the scam may have been carried out under the Nationalist administration; but a change of government does not seem to have actually halted the abuse. On the contrary, there are indications that business went on as usual even after the election.

Elsewhere we have seen similar cases of ministerial nepotism in public appointments, as well as the fruition of a number of electoral promises by the Labour Party that can only be explained as another case of buying votes with public money. The reality is that neither party has ever hesitated to use the nation’s coffers as an extension of their own campaign funds… the only difference is that the party in government has its hands already (so to speak) in the till, whereas the opposition party has to actually get elected to honour its commitments.

From this perspective, the ongoing ‘war of scandals’ between the two parties comes across as increasingly absurd. Opposition leader Simon Busuttil has just urged the Prime Minister to ‘assume political responsibility’ for the Café Premier deal… when he himself has so far avoided facing his own responsibility concerning a senior Cabinet minister currently under police investigation for the above-mentioned racket. 

Likewise Busuttil’s decision to await the outcome of the criminal investigation stands in stark contrast with his earlier criticism of the Prime Minister for doing exactly the same thing in the case of the inquiry into Manuel Mallia’s personal driver. Just over a year ago, Busuttil had accused Joseph Muscat of using the investigation as a smokescreen to avoid taking political responsibility. His accusations clearly apply to his own actions today.

On his part, Joseph Muscat feigned ‘shock and horror’ at the latest revelation of misuse of public funds; conveniently forgetting that his own government has dished out a bonanza of contracts and special positions, often tailor-made for chosen individuals, and all enjoying hefty pay packages at the country’s expense.

There is no semblance of any consistency in either party’s approach. Both have emerged from these revelations utterly besmirched in mud, yet both insist on pointing out only the other party’s mud stains, while ignoring their own. 

This is becoming increasingly irrelevant. What these ‘scandals’ also illustrate is that such systemic rot is by no means limited to the two parties themselves. Corruption invariably involves a give-and-take situation; it takes both a corruptible public official, and also a member of the public willing to grease palms. 

By limiting their responses to only a volley and counter-volley of mutual accusations, the Labour and Nationalist Parties have both ignored the much more important responsibility that arises from this affair: the fact that the country still clearly lacks the necessary institutional checks and balances to regulate the public sector.

What are the two parties’ plans to counter this prevailing culture of abuse? For years, we have talked about the need for sweeping institutional reforms, but with sporadic exceptions such discussions have never translated into action. Even today, all we hear from the political class is endless bickering and finger-pointing. 

The net result (amply supported by statistical evidence) is a population that is increasingly losing trust in both the political parties themselves, and the public service as a whole. That is a high price to pay for a national culture of responsibility-shirking.