Who’s next?

Labour’s troubles go far deeper than any individual. Malliagate is the result of a ‘couldn’t care-less attitude’ which is deeply ingrained within the Muscat administration. Unless there is a change in attitude, this mess will persist.

Yesterday it was Manuel Mallia – tomorrow it will be someone else. Unfortunately, there is little if any indication that things will change for the better.

Yesterday, we heard [now former] acting police commissioner Ray Zammit addressing Paul Sheehan, his subordinate, with ‘Aw siehbi’ [my friend]; and when the latter told him that he had fired two shots, Zammit replied with an ‘u ijja’ [oh well…].

It was shocking to hear Manuel Mallia ask his driver where his mother, who at the time was in charge of the minister’s daughter, lives. It is really and truly the case of a couldn’t-care-less attitude taken to extremes.

For the first time, Muscat’s leadership of the party is being questioned. He allowed some of his MPs to take the upper hand.

As declared by a court recently, Labour MP Luciano Busuttil had a conflict of interest, having at the same time, advised Cospicua local council and a bidder for a council contract. The court referred the case to the Commission for the Administration of Justice, and the Prime Minister couldn’t be bothered to do anything about it.

Economy Minister Cardona halted the new casino licence process and it’s business as usual for the Prime Minister.

Minister Konrad Mizzi failed to deliver what was the kernel of Labour’s electoral programme: a gas-fired Power Station by March 2015. Muscat couldn’t be bothered to, at least, apologize for the missed deadline.

The media is often replete with reports of illegal encroachments on public land with legal enforcement getting progressively weaker. Nobody within government is bothered to take action. To add insult to injury, we’ve had the Labour government dropping a court case against the Labour party over 10,000 square metres of prime property in St Andrew’s – Australia Hall.

Reshuffles, resignations and yet another changing of the guard within the Police Force, although necessary in the circumstances, will not do the trick.

Things got out of hand, and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has only himself to blame. The question is: Who’s next?