The reverence with which both contenders have conducted themselves, in the presence of Joseph Muscat, during his infamous farewell tour, is as humiliating for them, as it is telling.

He clearly still rules the roost with Labour supporters and both contenders simply couldn’t afford to appear anything but servile while embracing him, notwithstanding their knowledge of the fact that he ruined the country’s reputation, protected himself and his associates for years to keep them out of the fire with respect to the Panama Paper revelations and then – like that wasn’t enough – helped with a murder cover-up.

With just a couple of days to go, till we presumably see the back of Joseph Muscat and six weeks after he broke the news that he was leaving, but staying, but going, but remaining, while allowing the space and freedom to the new leader to be Prime Minister (I mean the man is non-stop), neither Robert Abela nor Chris Fearne have had the decency to tell us to our face, what they intend doing with the world’s most corrupt and criminally embroiled person award winner.

None of the journalists ever asked them either. If they did, we barely heard them and they took their “we’ll decide when the time comes” nonsense, word for it, lying down.

They don’t appear to have been allowed to ask the question more than once.

Whether the winner will, in fact, be play-acting leader or actually leading this country out of the gutter that Joseph Muscat intentionally placed our fragile island in, is anybody’s guess.

Joseph Muscat’s epic “none of your own business” reply to journalist Jacob Borg, seems to have been moulded on, and fashioned around, the contenders’ non-committal attitude with respect to what they intend doing with him. Not the other way around.

What we do know is that there’s some deal which they have reached between them, whether individually as contenders with Joseph Muscat or between all three. What we don’t know is what the deal actually is.

While Joseph never mentioned vacating his seat and removing himself outright, from the political scene, similarly neither contender has let slip that they intend forcing his hand to make him appear to vacate his parliamentary seat ‘voluntarily’ by means of a veiled constructive dismissal.

So it appears that the new Labour set up is again presented on a need-to-know basis, as it has been since 2013, where the public was drip-fed bits of information that Joseph’s mob deemed sufficient to keep the public quiet.

More questions than answers. More doubts than facts. Just more. More of the same thing.

Looking from the outside in, both Joseph’s farewell and the contenders’ welcome have been shrouded in mystery.

Mystery is what brought Malta to it knees.

Enough of that, gents. We’re done playing games.

You’re not getting another chance to violate our country.

Forget it. It’s just not happening.