Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo finally resigned from his ministerial position on the Wednesday morning of 26^th November 2024 after weeks and waves of political pressure for his wife’s sham consultancy job…except from Prime Minister Robert Abela. Now that Bartolo has resigned – albeit only because a new scandal emerged (which also involves Bartolo’s wife Amanda Muscat) to break the camel’s back – Abela’s cabinet is a man down and his method of governance has, once again, lost credibility amongst the electorate.

As Abela rapidly propelled himself from an unknown backbencher to the Prime Minister of Malta in January 2020, he pledged to promote good governance and bolster the rule of law. Today, we have more than enough evidence that the culture of impunity embedded by the prior Muscat administration still exists within our government’s highest officials, even as new faces have come and gone.

Just a few months ago, the nation was stunned to discover, through the European Parliament and local council elections, that the Labour Party had lost its 40,000-vote supermajority over the Nationalist Party. MaltaToday’s most recent post-Budget survey, which was published in mid-November after the incumbent administration absorbed all the adulation from Budget 2025, indicates that the Nationalist Party (PN – 46.3%) holds a minor lead over the incumbent Labour Party (PL – 45.3%).

The Prime Minister currently has the trust of less than half the electorate, according to this survey (43.2%). However, Bernard Grech’s poor 25% trust rating tells us that PN’s lead is not invigorated by its leader. If anything, this screams that people presently want a change in government, in spite of Grech.

The next election in the Maltese islands will be the general election, and this will happen whenever the Prime Minister announces it will happen, but not later than 2027. In this light, two questions lay on Abela’s shoulders:

1. When should the next general election be?
2. Were the factors leading to Bartolo’s resignation the final straw in the eyes of voters?

PN hold a minimal lead over the Abela’s governing party, even though ¾ of people would not currently like Bernard Grech to be Malta’s 15^th Prime Minister. Therefore, maybe PM Abela opts to let time heal the wound stinging the Labour Party today before then calling for people to replace their trust in him and PL once again.

There are two main problems with that though – one issue is certain, the other is negative, yet (at this rate) realistic speculation.

The clock is ticking. The Abela administration reset its time after the massive 39,474-vote victory in the 2022 general election on 27^th March that year. The end of this five-year mandate is less than two and a half years away as 2027 draws nearer.

As public perception over Abela’s cabinet sits at a low point through Bartolo’s (and his wife’s) ordeal, it would make sense to replace the outgoing minister for a new face in order to regenerate positively. But what “new faces” are out there who Abela can entrust with such an important role? Recent history says…none.

Following his resignation and exile from PL’s parliamentary group, Clayton Bartolo was not replaced by an aspiring Parliamentary Secretary or backbencher; his replacement as Minister for Tourism and Consumer Protection is Ian Borg…who is already overloaded in his present roles as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Such proof can also be found in the pudding of Malta’s European Commission nominee: Glenn Micallef. Now that Micallef has been accepted as Malta’s Commissioner for the next five years, all concerns relating to his inexperience have been put to bed, however, lest we forget the perplexity and criticism that came out of European fora and political commentary when it became apparent that while other country’s nominees were former Prime Ministers and experienced politicians, Malta had nominated a “technocrat” with zero direct political experience.

The other issue – as pessimistic as it may sound – is that for time to work in Abela’s favour, he needs to hope that no new scandals emerge. As ludicrous as this may seem to even be depicted as problematic, there genuinely seems to be a new scandal or racket or, at the very least, some sort of controversy every month or so.

A week is a long time in politics, but voters do not forget when they have been wronged by the very people they entrusted.

The Siġġiewi voter fraud, the driving license racket, the social benefits racket, Edward Zammit Lewis’ ġaħan comments, Rosianne Cutajar’s political downfall and recent re-integration back into the PL parliamentary group, ex-Minister Justyne Caruana’s ministerial sacking and attempted re-integration into the PL parliamentary group, Anton Refalo’s returned Victorian stone marker, Ian Borg’s twice-declared illegal swimming pool…these are all controversies, scandals, illegalities, etc., that instantly came to mind while writing this paragraph, and all these instances made the news in just the last couple years.

After a second scandal forced Clayton Bartolo to hand over his resignation as Tourism Minister, it has been reported that he is going to retain his seat in Parliament as an elected MP, even though he has been kicked out of PL’s parliamentary group.

Bartolo is to remain in Parliament as an independent MP after the Standards Commissioner declared that he and Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri breached ethics over Amanda Muscat’s appointment as a consultant within their respective ministries to net her a €68,000 annual salary (even though she was unqualified and was working more like Bartolo’s personal secretary anyway), and after Muscat was flagged by the FIAU for receiving around €50,000 out of a suspected kickback from a Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) contract.

Bartolo remaining an MP, albeit independent, gives him the right to earn the approximate €24,000 honorarium that MPs are entitled for, as well as the right to work and earn a full-time salary on top of that. These conditions were attributed as the reason why PL backbenchers declared more earnings than their minister colleagues just last month by The Shift News.

Besides, given that Rosianne Cutajar’s stint as an independent MP ended just this summer with her (shamelessly) re-integrating back into the Labour fold – in spite of everything that should have destroyed her political career – who’s to say that Bartolo won’t also be allowed to similarly return back to the Mighty Reds later down the line? Maybe he’ll apologise (again) and show Rosianne Cutajar how it’s done.

Robert Abela is in a precarious position. Many people have lost faith in him through his questionable decision-making and leadership. He is adamant to no longer be branded as a man prone to making U-turns after doing so with the Sofia public inquiry and with the Villa Rosa local plan revisions; at least, this is my interpretation after he reasoned that Bartolo only resigned due to newly emerging circumstances, and not because of Amanda Muscat’s sham consultancy.

Independent politician Arnold Cassola has recently called for Prime Minister Abela to either sack both Bartolo and Clint Camilleri or make way for someone else to take over his helm as PL leader. Just a couple days prior, PN leader Bernard Grech described that the incumbent government has become characterised by fraud.

People are tired, supporters feel betrayed and fed up, credibility continues to be lost, and the clock continues to tick – for the general election or for a new scandal to emerge.

Robert Abela will be in a really serious pickle if Bernard Grech can win over the electorate before the next general election – or if PN shifts gears and elects a new leader to be its next hopeful Prime Minister. This scandalous reputation won’t be forgotten overnight if PL loses its place in government and becomes the new side in Opposition.

If such a scenario arises over the next two years, then the Labour Party may be eyeing another prolonged period of trying to climb back to power, assuming a run of the mill PN administration that doesn’t destroy the country’s economy or also meddles with similar corrupt/unethical practices.

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The views expressed in this article are those of the author/s and do not necessarily represent a position or perspective of this or any organisation

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