Out, damned spot! Out...

Elections do not wash off bloodstains.

The headline is from the famous sleepwalking outburst scene in Macbeth by Shakespeare.

Consumed with guilt for assassinating King Duncan, Lady Macbeth suffers hallucinations of bloody spots on her hands. She rubs them to wash them and free herself from guilt but fails. “Will these hands ne’er be clean,” she desperately ponders.

Many honest, law-abiding citizens are posing the same question after reading the damning conclusions of the inquiry report on the horrendous assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Will Malta ever be cleansed of this blot, many wonder.

The inquiry concluded that a ‘culture of impunity’, facilitated at the highest political echelons, enabled the assassination. The conclusion is a damning indictment: “The state should shoulder responsibility for the assassination.”

Robert Abela, his government and the Labour Party find themselves experiencing Lady Macbeth’s torment. They have blood on their hands.

For some, this may sound blasphemous. Others choose denial. Yet for others, it is the stark truth. Trying to wash off responsibility with platitudes will not succeed.

A good number of current ministers were part of Joseph Muscat’s cabinet, exalting their supreme leader, and the current prime minister himself was his special consultant. The inquiry conclusion was clear: the entire cabinet is collectively responsible for their inaction in the lead-up to the assassination.

“The inaction of (Muscat’s) cabinet means that all ministers individually were supporting the prime minister’s decision and giving tacit approval, if not their blessing, for the culture of impunity Muscat was creating.”

Only the blinkered fail to see the light.

This is damaging news for our hard-earned international reputation as an honesty-loving nation, more so when this report followed two other damaging ones: the FATF’s greylisting and the UK placing Malta on the list of high-risk countries for money laundering and terrorist financing.

This put the nation in a very dark corner.

Malta is a “sunny area for shady people”, one online commentator remarked.

Thanks to Muscat’s legacy, we are eyed with suspicion as potential artful dodgers and money launderers. After all the painstaking work to build our reputation, Malta is considered a pariah state.

Shame on Muscat and his lackeys for turning Malta into a soulless state. He not only shamed himself and undermined the good work done but he shamed the entire nation and reinforced the misconception that politics is a murky business.

What is the way forward?

The inquiry report has a number of recommendations.

Opposition leader Bernard Grech and others were right to say an independent commission must be set up to ensure change will not be cosmetic. The commission’s members would be beyond reproach and enjoy the full trust of the nation to tackle this moral quagmire.

Our international partners are watching. They are not impressed with rhetoric but with credible actions. They will judge the government on what it does rather than on what it says.

One of the recommendations is on the rule of law. The nation cannot retain a laissez-faire attitude at all levels of government, enabling bullies to do as they please and act as though everything has a price tag. It can no longer tolerate big business and politicians acting as though Malta is their property.

We must cut the umbilical cord, promote the common good, transparency, accountability, good governance. We must fight corruption and safeguard the free press.

This is not a time to play Tom and Jerry. Let us go beyond our tribalistic instincts and seek consensus.

Our nation’s well-being is at stake and the stakes are high. Honest Malta is calling.

It would be unwise for Abela to think his government can get off the hook easily by distributing cake or that “a little water clears us of the deed”. It would also be wrong to call a snap election. Elections do not wash off bloodstains. Only truth and justice do.

Abela’s first reaction was to accept the inquiry’s recommendations. He must now walk the talk or become a dead man walking.

Muscat’s position in the Labour Party is no longer tenable. He has turned himself into an albatross. His legacy is tainted. He betrayed the confidence of so many. Abela must dissociate himself from his predecessor. Anything short of this is foolishness.

Macbeth is a tragic story. Seeking power for the sake of power leads to self-destruction.

‘Out, damned spot! Out’… with no ifs or buts!

(This article was published on Times of Malta – 13 August, 2021)