The Prime Minister must resign at once

Recent developments in investigations related to the brutal assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia have shocked the nation and the international community. The alleged involvement of members of Government in this awful plot and in the criminal activities that led to its realisation calls into question a series of important decisions taken by the Prime Minister. They are decisions shedding doubt on what he knew, could have or ought to have known about the people he chose to lead the country with him.

These doubts damage the integrity of the Office of the Prime Minister and the only way for the Office and, consequently, the nation, to be protected from further damage is for Joseph Muscat to resign with immediate effect.

We strongly reiterate comments made in our statement of 19 May 2017, The nation deserves better, and more, from Government and Parliament, we commented that “Malta’s governance institutions are largely failing to fulfil their roles of preventing and addressing abuses of political and administrative power. It is shameful that the entities entrusted by the nation to ensure justice, fairness, efficiency and democratic process – the public service, the judiciary, administrative tribunals, the police and armed forces, and state agencies – are consistently used as extensions of political party clubs or recruitment agencies.”

We noted a “severe lowering of democratic expectations, where glittering and at times irresponsible electoral promises replace long-term commitments that aim to better the entire nation for the common good.”

The statement of more than two years ago reverberates loudly today, following a long string of institutional failures directly connected to the Prime Minister.

It is time for the entire nation to reclaim Malta’s democratic values. To insist that fundamental human rights, rule of law and good governance are repositioned at the heart of Government. To embark on a healing process that will require a revision of our Constitution, a challenging of the omnipotence of political parties and a strengthening of those institutions mandated to respect, protect and fulfil our fundamental human rights.

The nation can only start healing with the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.