No ifs, no buts, time to go

Really and truly I do not care if the Nationalist administrations had no appreciation of the meaning of accountability and political responsibility during their time.  

Anyone who has any respect for the truth knows this to be so.

We also know that politicians have no problem castigating others, even though they themselves have much to answer for.

What I do know now is that the police officer-cum-security officer-cum-driver fired at least two bullets into the car of an inebriated man. And the very latest revelation is that the police officer shot from the ‘GM’ (Government of Malta) car at the Scotsman, who is married to a Maltese, while he was in his driver’s seat and during a high speed chase.

If those bullets had hit and injured or killed Mr Smith the implications of the whole episode would have been very serious indeed.

Irrespective of the fact as to whether Dr Simon Busuttil has credibility or not I agree with him that the onus of responsibility falls on the driver’s boss. That boss is the driver’s minister.

Political responsibility in the modern sense does not mean that you carry out the act yourself. It goes beyond that. In my years in journalism, when inmates at Kordin prison died from an overdose or an incident, or people in custody were found half dead next to a high wall at the Police HQ, I always felt that the Home Affairs minister was ultimately responsible.

That to me is political responsibility.

Of course no one understood that at the time.

The only people who did were the opposition of the time.

And guess what – the opposition then was the Labour party.

So do not be too surprised if Busuttil is being bloody hypocritical, it is simply history repeating itself.

Undoubtedly many on the other side of the political spectrum have very little to show for political responsibility. But that is beside the point.

We are not taking lessons in accountability from anyone in the local political class.

Joseph Muscat raised the stakes when he entered the 2013 elections fray with a battle cry that insisted that with him at the helm, Malta was being offered an agreeable and new way of doing politics.

Many not only hoped for that but even prayed that it would be true.

Having a minister’s driver act as if he were in Die Hard 3 was not exactly what we had expected.

‘We’ referring to all those who had lived through 16 years of Labour government and then 25 years of PN administrations and hoped that a change in government would lead to a change in mentality.

It appears that in many respects the excesses of yesteryear are being replaced by the ones of today.

If Minister Manuel Mallia does not feel he can or should resign – because he somehow believes he is indispensable, then someone should stand up and take responsibility for all this.

The next obvious candidate in line is Silvio Scerri, Dr Mallia’s chief of staff.  A person who has become a very easy target for the PN machine.

Obviously the Nationalists would like Mallia’s head or preferably Mallia’s and Scerri’s heads together on a plate.  There is no love lost for former PN personalities who have crossed the border to embrace the enemy.

They are also easy prey, having eloped to the other side when the going was tough.

If the Prime Minister accepts any one of these resignations, he would do the right thing. But it is not going to be easy either way.

Nonetheless he should not expect any reprieve from the Nationalist opposition’s carping criticism. The opposition is acting in no unsurprising manner and doing what is expected of it.

Muscat will be pleasantly surprised to find that many people who are well known Labourites will applaud him if does take such a tough stand and accepts a resignation.

Needless to say Muscat will point out that in the 25 years before he took the reins of government there was no sign of political responsibility. But we know that and that is why so many people had lost and still have no faith in the Nationalist party.

And that is why most folk expect very high standards from the Labour government.

There is a very silly parallel to the present situation.

When the brusque PN minister Austin Gatt raised the Maltese public’s expectations high for a so-called public transport reform captained by Arriva, the resulting failure was amplified by widespread public discontent. 

And of course by the PL opposition of the time.

Gatt had delegated the redesign of the new bus routes to his chief of staff at the time, who happened to be Manwel Delia, a conceited guy who conceived a disastrous bus routing system. Delia thought all along that he was the great professional who knew everything about public transport simply because he did not use a car and depended on public transport.

This whole episode however also points to the state of our police force and their history in the use of firearms and force. This is not the first time the Maltese police have been involved in an excessive use of force. 

This has been the case for many years and in some cases led to the killing of people when this was not necessary.

The whole incident also earmarks the kind of people who are chosen by politicians to assist them or be around. And surely this is not a Manuel Mallia idiosyncrasy. 

Perhaps it is high time that the drivers of ministers and junior ministers are picked from a pool of professional drivers trained to be drivers and security personnel, as is the norm in most European countries. 

The tradition in Malta is that ministerial secretariats attract a posse of party faithful or ministerial sycophants who have little in the way of competence and a lot in the way of liability.

We need to change the whole culture of politics in this world of ours.  If I were Prime Minister I would not wait for the opposition leader to make the demands for resignations. 

More so, when the ‘positive’ aspects of the budget have been overshadowed by two flying bullets in a side road in Gzira which have not only served to dent the government’s standing but also to fuel the opposition’s artillery against the government in its insatiable yearning to return to power in three and a half years’ time.

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Just as I finished writing this opinion piece, the Prime Minister announced in a tweet that he has offered Simon Busuttil the choice of the head judge in an inquiry into the shooting incident.

It will be, we are told, conducted by three judges.

As would be expected, Busuttil reacted by saying that he would not entertain the offer. I am not surprised. I really cannot put my finger on this one. I am afraid it is not an issue that can be decided by ex-judges. It is a political matter, and the bullets discharged somewhere in Gzira or nearby will be ricocheting off people’s tongues for days to come.