Opinion: Malta’s Leadership Crisis – Our Authorities Must Stop Reacting And Start Leading
Our authorities unfortunately seem to have an initiative problem when it comes to dealing with people in power.
Time and time again, they have shown that while they are ready to take action, they will never take the lead themselves and will only take action when faced with insurmountable pressure and are basically left with no other option.
And the case of Clayton Bartolo, Amanda Muscat and Clint Camilleri is just the latest example of this. The Standards Commissioner’s investigation into Muscat’s consultancies was initiated solely following a request by independent politician Arnold Cassola, who had read an article about it on TheShiftNews.
But what would have happened had Cassola not been around? Considering that the story had been out for a while and nothing had been done, it is safe to assume that no action would have been taken at all.
Now Robert Abela will argue that Bartolo wasn’t removed because of the Standards Commissioner’s report but as a result of a separate FIAU investigation which, according to Jason Azzopardi, he has been aware of since at least September. However, it is incredibly suspicious as it’s not common for a minister to be removed on the basis of a police investigation, let alone the collection of intelligence by the FIAU.
It seems as though Abela is using the FIAU investigation as a shield so as not to give the impression that he is being proactive and not U-turning to public pressure again.
And this would be the latest in a long line of examples of third parties having to act to force the government to take action.
We saw it recently with the ID card scandal, when a magisterial inquiry was only launched after Jason Azzopardi mounted a strong public campaign against it.
We saw it with Edward Scicluna, who was only made to resign as Central Bank Governor following pressure by the Opposition, despite being charged with fraud.
And we saw it last year with the Jean Paul Sofia case, when Abela only decided to launch a public inquiry after it was clear that his mother Isabelle Bonnici had managed to get the public on her side.
Reacting to public complaints is all well and good but the authorities should lead from the front. They have more power and resources than anyone in Malta and they have been entrusted to lead the nation.
If action needs to be taken, they should take it immediately without having to wait for a third party to force an institution to investigate it or for the public to rise up in anger.
Otherwise, any delayed action will appear insincere and create the impression that the authorities are merely attempting to deflect criticism.
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