Alfred Sant gladly departs from his ‘promise’

On Santa Marija, a day reserved for oversleeping and reading silly novels, Alfred Sant opted for some of the real stuff.

In doing so, he broke his promise not to politicise the judges’ bribe scandal with an interesting piece on the wider implications of the alleged bribery of the two judges.

We welcome this because we cannot see why politics should not be brought into the institutional crisis. We find his arguments interesting but we ask him for specific examples.

Apart from Queroz, Zeppi il-Hafi, Mid-Med and Chambray, his other allegations are based on speculation. But his analysis is interesting.

For obvious reasons his choice of examples doesn't extend to the time before 1987. Which is understandable considering that Nationalist governments have done little or nothing to nail the culprits who masterminded the excesses of the eighties.

In his contribution he refers to a number of ‘serious’ cases. Notably the Chambray Fort agreement with Roberto Memmo, an Italian crook by all accounts and a P2 Masonic lodge member who conned the Nationalist government into offering him and his company the Gozo fort on a plate.

Sant talks of Queiroz, a Brazilian drug trafficker, surprisingly pardoned after much insistence by the former Justice minister.

He links the judges’ bribe scandal to these by stating; "We have come to this point because certain decisions and certain leadership styles allowed the development of friendships, bondings and associations between people, against a background where a number of people were growing wealthy in a mysterious manner…"

He goes on : "All these cases are evidence of a blurred situation where money, criminality, business, politics and friendships intersect with one another. Some of the most fertile ground was that involving larger and smaller government contracts, drugs and development permits…"

We can agree, but what we cannot understand is where and how is the Labour Party different from the Nationalist Party on this? In both parties the structures and methods of nepotism and clientelism are built-in. Political candidates still promise their voters the world. And the Labour Party, is a clone of the PN raking in money from big business.

"Scratch my back and I will scratch yours," is how Dr Sant describes the present situation.

Changing this will take more than an opinion column in the L-Orrizont. What we need is an earthquake to shake the system to its foundations.

Enforcing the law

There is a piece of legislation somewhere about how, when and if, petards and fireworks may be used. It should make very interesting reading. Somewhere a regulation talks of drinking and driving and breathalyser tests. Another piece of law prohibits the use of used oil drums as wind barriers. Yet another talks of dust pollution, removal of soil and sand. The list is endless.

The extensive work carried out by our legislators over the years is only matched by the apathy that paralyses enforcement. The police, the army, health inspectors, Agricultural officers, MEPA enforcement officers, wardens, all complain of understaffing and demand more resources.

Together they represent at least one enforcement officer to every 120 in a population of 380,000. The truth is that there is no motivation when it comes to enforcing the laws. There is still an ingrained attitude that enforcers will only act if told to act.

How many times, have you seen a police officer stop someone for littering? How many motorists have been stopped for over-speeding and how many people have been checked for drinking and driving in the last six months?

On Santa Marija, all the police were to be found at the usual junctions. None of these police motorcyclists popped up unannounced at the jam-packed side-roads to check out on overspeeding cars and those overtaking on the double lines.

What about police making their presence felt by walking on a beat instead of staying put in the police stations.

Being pro-active instead of reactive is one way of instilling respect for the law.

There are difficulties: the police are just too familiar at times.

In Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, the police force is wholly composed of Scots. The reasons for this are obvious.

The recent investigation leading the police to arrest two senior public officers may be the start of a culture change in the police force, something everyone has noted after the welcome departure of George Grech.