Silver Lining

Maltastar 

 

 

Money was very much in the news last week. Unfortunately it was the ugly side of money, the dirty money, corruption money that challenges and erodes the very roots of democracy.

The allegations that the top echelons of our judiciary system are tainted with corruption of the first degree, involving drug money, are serious to the extreme. It will take time and effort for the common citizen to look at the Court with the respect and assumption of impartiality and honesty, so essential for the Courts to perform as well they should.

“The silver lining is that the police and secret service systems have worked effectively without regard to the high positions of those which gave rise to suspicion about the discharge of their duties”

But all is not dark. Last week’s events are the exposure of a problem which although previously hidden was serious nonetheless. At least now we know it. At least we acknowledge it. At least now we are forced to do something about it.

I personally had little doubt in my mind that our judiciary system was not the whiter than white image that it pretends to be. And it is not just the judiciary. It is the whole legal system involving the investigators, those who prepare the charges, the prosecution and the judiciary. It is a whole system that was not delivering.

 

 

I could never understand that my brother gets assaulted in the sanctity of his own house in the middle of the night for no apparent reason except political vindictiveness, and the perpetrators that are found guilty get away with a Lm25 fine.

I could never understand why a self admitted drug dealer and commission hit man gets presidential pardons?

It never made sense to me why the PN were given a princely sum of Lm20,000 for not being allowed to test transmit their TV system when they had no licence for it and when the State puts up a very poor defense for our tax money not to be used for partisan politics.

Now that the problem is out in the open it has to be addressed. Now hopefully the case will lead to explanation of other mysteries that inflict pain on the conscience of this nation.

The silver lining is that the police and secret service systems have worked effectively without regard to the high positions of those which gave rise to suspicion about the discharge of their duties. I rejoice that at least, there are still self respecting people in authority who are willing to defend their organisation and their obligation to the State and would not absorbed in the back-scratching web that dominates our society.

 

 

Many would applaud our political class for taking swift action to put transparency into the process and for allowing the police and the secret service to do their job without any interference. Great! Let’s be thankful for this as well and give credit where it is due.

“We pretend that the party in government can fund itself from business contributions and then not return favours to its benefactors”

But faced with solid evidence that the investigators had collected at great personal sacrifice and risk, was there really anything else that could be expected?

The corruption problem of the judiciary is symptomatic of the whole loss of values that our society has fallen into. Like an destructive worm the notions of greed, easy money and no need to really work hard culture cultivated by the nationalist government has not just built debt mountains, but also pervaded and rotten the soul of our society; a society which then produces apparent monsters that get charged of being on the take of drug money to deliver imperfect justice.

We have built a society of let’s pretend. We pretend that the party in government can fund itself from business contributions and then not return favours to its benefactors. We pretend that ministers who were earning four or five times their official salary from their private practice can actually live honestly on a fraction of their previous income while dispensing the power that goes with a minister’s job.

Unless we stop pretending we have no right to be shocked when the permanent state of mutual back scratching by members of the power network very rarely and quite by accident gets exposed for public scrutiny.

I still have faith that the silver lining in this whole sad affair can be reinforced to overcome the darkness around us. But for this to happen we need a fresh start by installing political leaders untainted guilt of strange presidential pardons, free from obligations of favours to unsavoury characters who offer protection, and with a record of honesty and love for their country and not for the power and glamour that goes with the post.

The judiciary corruption scandal could offer a belated alarm bell to wake up our society from the lethargy of accepting the unacceptable, thinking that it is ok as it does not effect us, or indeed, we could even benefit somewhat from the unacceptable. Now we know it effects us all. We badly need an injection of new values right from the top.