Evarist Bartolo Urges Re-Establishment Of Labour Vigilance And Discipline Board
Former Labour Minister Evarist Bartolo has strongly urged the current Labour administration to form a new vigilance and discipline board.
In an opinion piece penned for Times of Malta, Bartolo suggested that the Labour party ought to set up something similar to the Board of Vigilance and Discipline, which was set up in the late 1980s, following Labour’s electoral defeat in 1987.
Bartolo ascertained that it wasn’t a good idea to disband it, as it sent the message that everything would be tolerated.
“The political parties themselves need to clean up their act. Following the benefit fraud scandal, is it too much to expect the Labour Party to resurrect itself and set up something similar to the Board of Vigilance and Discipline that it set up in the late 1980s to deal with ethical issues of political corruption?” he wrote.
“We need something even more effective. It was a bad idea to remove that board because it sent the message that ‘anything goes’.”
“We are human beings: weak, imperfect and fragile. As a politician, I felt the need to be protected even from myself, at times. It is important to feel there’s always a spotlight on you. Because, let’s face it, sometimes we slip up even where there is that spotlight… let alone when there isn’t,” he said.
He also stressed how Malta needs to start ensuring a proper and transparent relationship between business and the government.
“We must not allow for the disproportionate influence of well-connected business people over the decisions made by the government,” he wrote.
“This produces only the outer shell of a democracy; on the face of it people choose their representatives once every five years when, in reality, our decisions are disproportionately influenced by unaccountable people in business.”
In the opinion piece, Bartolo also suggested that the upcoming presidential appointment should not see someone previously involved in politics as Malta’s President.
What do you make of Bartolo’s suggestion?
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