Letters | Wednesday, 25 March 2009

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Republican as opposed to monarchical, or parliamentarian as opposed to presidential, or unitary as opposed to federal, whichever it may be, a constitution is a body of rules, laws and conventions which regulates the powers of the State, the relationship between these – namely the Executive, Judiciary and Legislative State Organs – and their relationship with the private citizen. Clearly then, the constitution of any State spills out the powers of the government. It is within parameters of the constitution, that any holder of an office set up by the constitution must act. The President is no exception. No matter how revolutionary he may choose to be.
The charismatic young black US president has been hailed as the man who will restore America’s image to the world. Against the backcloth of the economy reclining, politics gridlocked, young people dying in Iraq. President Obama generates a sense of attractive optimism. He come across as personable, affable gregarious, consensus-seeking, capable of delivering oratory of some brilliance, a trans-forming figure, nonetheless, a global citizen who stands for opportunity-grabbing and upward economic mobility and stability. This notwithstanding, what patterns of national thought, what well-ingrained, deep-rooted traditional customs, what constitutional powers will he, in turn, either fortify, disregard or run-roughshod in attempting to bring change?
I cannot here help in this connection recalling Sarkozy the hyper-president, who comes to the fore not only as one trying to do too much, but one whose hyperactive style fits a strategy to re-invent the Presidency. Some commentators have of late styled him as undermining the traditional office of the President, making it a form of ‘elective monarchy’. So even, in this regard, how far can a President go in fortifying the office or re-inventing the wheel of the office?
A president, more often than not, is what the holder of the office chooses to make of it. Nevertheless, the powers and functions of the president qua president of a given state will, still have to depend on the obtaining constitutional framework and varying patterns of national thought. The presidential prerogative, for example, has been whittled down to little, if at all, powers in parliamentary constitutional, where the PM is together with his Cabinet answerable to Parliament through collective Ministerial responsibility. This is the case for Malta – a Republican State which has a parliamentary constitutional framework but it is opposed to a presidential system of government, as it obtains in America and France. A Westminster model of Parliamentary democracy where the Executive is subordinate to Parliament.
Malta does have a President. In terms of our constitution, he is said to be head of the Executive, he is also part of Parliament since for a bill to become law he has to give his presidential assent “without delay”, he is part of the judiciary in virtue of the exercise of prerogative of mercy. However, legal theory does not always march alongside political reality. Our President presides over the State, whereas it is our Prime Minister and his Cabinet of Ministers who actually administer. In contradistinction from the USA and the French Presidents, our President performs ceremonial functions, decorative functions, but he is the guardian of our Constitution.
Through the years our Presidents have all been symbols of national unity. Fenech Adami proved to be a President who could use above party politics and brought the Presidency closer to the people. Fenech Adami as President showed sharpness, and absolute leadership when coming to tackle hot issues and would not be drawn into the bullring of petty partisan politics. I have no doubt that the President in-waiting, Geroge Abela will do a good job. His appeal rests on an attractive optimism that goes unparalleled in many respects. He will act as a catalyst in giving more meaning to the principle of legitimacy of organised dissent.

Patrick Pace
Sliema

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