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The Punch and Judy show of local politics shows no signs of abating. Political parties talk to each other via press releases and attack each other unrepentantly on their respective political media stations. The level of political debate has never been lower. We are not witnessing a battle of ideas but a ruthless power game. The present political class is in crisis.
All major parties and institutions lack leadership and are not led by persons with vision. A coterie of unelected full-time employees dominate the two parties and call the shots. They are all in siege mentality. Policy is rarely discussed and their sole focus is their respective core voters. The floating voter, swelling by the day is totally ignored. The party of non-voters is a reality. They witness a reckless government suffering from fatigue and an opposition offering nothing new. The choice following the next election is simply either more of the same or a return to old Labour. This scenario is frightening. Something needs to be done and quick. Our country needs a new way of doing politics. The Greens have attempted to fill this void, but it has not been a complete success story.
The present crisis of leadership is creating a political void. It militates in favour of a new political grouping comprising independent-minded persons and perhaps political groupings who want to play their part in saving this country. The rigid two-party system cannot overcome the challenges facing this country. Neither party can do it on its own.
It’s time we really considered the possibility of coalition politics. The country needs a strong political movement which seeks the middle road, which moderates the excesses of both political poles. To date third party politics has been unable to garner enough votes to change the mould of Maltese politics. The creation of a new political force may well change the local political landscape.
The culture of winner-takes-all has had disastrous social and economic effects on this country. A middle of the road party must have a political programme committed to uniting the country. This necessitates constitutional changes whereby among other things, the president is elected with a two-thirds parliamentary majority. The highest office holder should have a wider constitutional role including the prerogative to appoint all the heads of the authorities enshrined in the Constitution. These authorities must be citizen-focused.
Parliament must also be given wider powers to scrutinise the executive. Parliament cannot remain simply a rubber stamp where all government proposals simply sail through with little controls. All systems of checks and balances need to be further strengthened. Citizen direct action needs to be enshrined in the Constitution allowing referenda proposing new laws to be tested.
This programme is necessary since a return of a Labour government will not usher in a new way of politics but will simply be motivated by wanting to get even after twenty years of Nationalist rule. Hence the value of a modern and liberal and moderating force.
The strongest challenge facing this political movement is the modernisation of the country – in the cultural sense too. This is the raison d’être for its formation since to date neither of the two major party has shown sufficient commitment to making the necessary changes. This calls for making the public service leaner, reforming the transportation system, means testing all services offered by government, achieving a social pact and giving power back to the people.
The new formation must be totally committed to the environment by enshrining the ODZ concept in our Constitution whereby outside development zone really means outside development zone. And by doing away with activities that are incompatible with environmental norms.
Such a political movement is doomed to fail unless it brings together young credible politicians committed to doing politics differently, with experienced former politicians of all shades, red, blue and green, offering their political experience. It all needs to be headed by a charismatic leader whose very DNA is his or her vision of a modern and liberal European Malta.
Is there a group of people up to the challenge?
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