Labour should appoint ‘good governance’ minister, Evarist Bartolo says

The Labour government is in a coma, veteran minister Evarist Bartolo has said, calling for a new minister who can simply handle good governance practices and reforms.

In what has become a daily serving of Facebook epithets and cautionary tales for the Labour Party as it faces an unprecedented political crisis following the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination probe, the education minister said Labour had to take “steps to reduce the tension in the country and give people a normal life and peace of mind… Labour must emerge from its coma and start leading and bettering peoples’ lives.”

Bartolo said it was necessary to effect change that does not leave things as they are. “for change to be effective, it has to also take place inside government organisations and institutions. There must be a new mentality and approach in the way people are employed or contacted. We can’t just talk of good governance, we must practice it. We have been caught up in practices we inherited from colonial times. To give a strong signal we should appoint a minister who makes this their remit.”

Bartolo said Malta needs a system of strong checks and balances, and that the government should undertake a silent revolution without any shocks to economic development. “A just distribution of wealth has to continue. People are angry because they do not want to lose what they have, because their country and party does not deserve this. I hope we truly turn a page and face a new day.”