This column first appeared in Malta Today

This week Robert Abela had a golden opportunity to set an example by saying and doing the right thing, but yet again, he failed miserably.

“Establishments with illegal structures will still be able to benefit from a government fund to help businesses damaged by Storm Harry”, the Prime Minister said on Tuesday. “These people, like the Għar Lapsi restaurateur, were earning an honest and decent living. They might not have everything in line with the law, and we will treat that from a planning aspect and ideally bring them in line. But we cannot let these people drown more than they already have following Storm Harry.”

Under the scheme, individuals, NGOs and businesses may claim up to €5,000 each.

After members of the public shook themselves out of their doom scrolling stupor long enough to realise the implications of this statement, the backlash came like a tsunami. There were over a thousand angry comments on the article itself (apart from the many times it was shared, making it go viral). Perhaps the best thing to come out of what he said is that people told him in no uncertain terms that they are simply not having it. Who can blame them? If you’ve ever had to pay thousands to the Planning Authority to sanction something minor before you can sell a property, because an alteration was made before all the planning laws came into effect, then the idea that someone is actually going to be compensated for an illegal structure, beggars belief.

Describing someone as “earning an honest and decent living” but then in the next breath saying that they did not do everything in line with the law is such a blatant contradiction that I doubt Abela is actually consulting with anyone before coming out with these whoppers.

The vehement public reaction did have an effect however. A few days later, the penny must have finally dropped (Bongu!) and the PM was forced to backtrack furiously, although not quite completely.

“Businesses with illegal structures will have to regularise those illegalities if they want to be fully eligible for compensation over Storm Harry damages”, Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Thursday. “If not regularised within a year, they will only be compensated over the approved development,” Abela told journalists.

While it’s a slight improvement on what was stated originally, it is still missing the whole point of why law-abiding citizens are so angry. I’m not even sure how this will work anyway – do they pay €5,000 (or less) to sanction what they built illegally so that they can receive €5,000 back?

I often wonder whether the man leading our country has any politically savvy communication advisors. Because if he did I would think they would sit him down before he makes these type of announcements and tell him, look, let’s be careful about what type of message we are sending here. The message we all heard loud and clear is that if you do things by the book you are the world’s biggest fool, because those who go ahead and plonk a make-shift restaurant in a prime tourist attraction near the sea without proper permits will get compensated if a storm drags it all away. Oh and by the way you silly upright citizen you, YOU get the privilege of paying for it from your taxes.

And let us not even get started on the wrong message being blared out to youngsters when a PM is basically giving his blessing to someone who grabbed public land.

Apart from infuriating all those who do obey the law, this type of attitude also filters down until even the most conscientious person may start to second-guess themselves: “why do I even bother? It hasn’t got me anywhere and those who do things illegally always get sanctioned anyway.” After all, ordinary folk sometimes wait years for a PA permit to come through and they dutifully put everything on hold until it does. Yet all around them they see construction cowboys bringing in their trucks and cranes without any permits, which might as well be emblazoned with the motto, “build now, sanction later”.

As if on cue, also this week, we read that Carlo Stivala wants to regularise the demolition of a Sliema building’s façade which was carried out without a permit. His new application suggests that Stivala has breached the conditions of the initial permit which stated that the original facade must be retained. 600 objections were received against the development of this 15 storey hotel, yet he went ahead anyway while the application was still pending. Now he wants to add a further two storeys to his application. The fine for parking a crane and blocking the street without a permit was a measly €1,500. He probably makes that much every time he blinks.

One reason the average person does not do things illegally is because they do not have the political and financial clout of the Stivalas and Portellis of this world. They also know that the government would come down on them with glee – because it can – to pretend it is enforcing the law. That is why Robert Abela’s feeble attempt to come across as a hero for the little people by sticking up for the Ghar Lapsi restaurant owners did not impress anyone.

The other reason most of us do things correctly is something which you either possess or you don’t – and that is, having a moral compass. The truth is there is no real incentive to be law-abiding in this country, but those who are intrinsically moulded in this way simply cannot bring themselves to break the law. It would go against their character and that inexplicable centre at their core – their integrity.

Meanwhile it has not gone unnoticed that from the direction of PN Leader Alex Borg on this issue all we have heard is… crickets. So once again, we had another politician with a golden opportunity to show us that those who break the law will not be rewarded, but he too failed the test. Maybe he was just happy to see his opponent getting lambasted, but that’s not enough is it? I am still patiently waiting for what the Nationalist party under this new leader will do which will be remotely different to what we have now. If the PN is also reluctant to step on business toes for fear of votes, then no wonder certain big shots get away with everything.

The only political parties which strongly objected to this irresponsible suggestion were Momentum and ADPD – the Green Party. Meanwhile the former Labour Prime Minister and former MEP Alfred Sant also supported the public’s disapproval of public funds being used to compensate illegal businesses for storm damages. “Such arguments make sense and deserve being listened to,” he wrote. But as has often happened to Sant in the past with his party, his is a lone voice in the wilderness.

What the PM should have unequivocally said is, you will get compensation only if your structure was legal – if not, too bad. But I suppose that takes courage and backbone. It also shows that Abela continues to misread the zeitgeist because it would have won him back a lot of lost ground among those who have completely lost faith in the Labour Party.

The country (and the world) is desperately seeking integrity in its leaders, but unfortunately they are very scarce on the ground.