We need new political institutions and a new way of doing politics to enable us to face the challenges of the 21st century. We still operate within the confines of a constitution that was imposed on us when we were a British colony. And the mindset of village band club rivalry, saints and fireworks still dominates most of our politics. Our society is developing faster than our political institutions and if we do not renew them and update them, they will drag us backwards.
We have made huge steps to become a sovereign republic, but most of the changes we have made to our constitution and political institutions have been top down, and as a result of negotiations behind closed doors between the two major parties. We need to break with this tradition and take all the country in our confidence, engage civil society, entrepreneurs and trade unions, to create a republican constitution and the corresponding political institutions that will enable us to navigate successfully today’s globalised world and the new realities brought about by sharing our sovereignty with 26 other states in the European Union.
There are aspects of our political culture and institutions that are holding us back and making it more difficult for us to mobilise all our resources to create a fairer and more prosperous society. We need to rid ourselves of those features. 45 years after becoming a sovereign state and 34 years after becoming a republic with our own head of state, we still need to take steps to ensure that all living on these islands feel that they live in a common home. We still do not make the best use of our best and brightest, and in today’s borderless world it is easier to lose those who feel discarded. We cannot afford the brain drain that has already started and that will increase if our reality continues to reject those who want to change it.
Many of us who do not have the right connections still feel like second-class citizens. Most of our national institutions are national only in name, and people of different political opinions do not perceive them as national and fair and do not identify with them or own them. Personal networks are stronger than institutions and cronyism predominates.
Rhetoric is not enough to bring about inclusive national institutions that help us live in and share a common home. Issues like civil rights, environmental protection, animal welfare, disability and minorities are only some of those issues which a vibrant civil society is struggling to make its own. It is time to divest the government of some of its power. We need to create institutions that are more in tune with today’s world, where power relations have been revolutionised and become horizontal through communications technology which empowers citizens at grassroots level. The state should relinquishing more of its power to give people a real stake in society. As politicians, we should have the courage and vision to do this.
One way of building a common home is to give the office of the President more power to act as guardian of our national institutions away from the control of the government of the day. The President of the Republic should be elected with a two-thirds majority in parliament. We already have a president enjoying a wide national consensus. Now is the right time to bring about the necessary changes. We should consider putting institutions like the Ombudsman, the National Audit Office, the public service commission, the government’s contracts committee, the electoral commission, the police and the army under the jurisdiction of the president. All the regulators, which are at the moment appointed by the same ministers they are supposed to regulate, should also be appointed by the president.
We should have separation of powers so that we have a system of checks and balances which, at present, is very weak. At the same time, parliament should stop being run like another government department and be given the necessary resources to become a full-time independent national institution that holds the government to account on behalf of the taxpaying citizens.
The state should also divest itself of the control it has on the national broadcasting station, and we should take all the necessary steps to transform it into a modern public broadcasting service, which has a pivotal role to play in a more open and democratic society that celebrates its diversity and pluralism.
We should also renew our parliamentary structures to ensure that it can carry out effectively our dual role as national legislators and as co-legislators with other national parliaments and the European Parliament in the European Union political process.
We need a new modern republican constitution that is relevant for today. Are we too petty, too short-sighted and too close-minded to even consider the task to renew our politics?
Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below. Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.
Search:
MALTATODAY
BUSINESSTODAY
Download MaltaToday Sunday issue front page in pdf file format
