Labour rules, ok?

A huge electoral majority already seems to have gone to the Labour Party’s head, as it makes one appointment after another that flies in the face of its Malta taghna ilkoll rallying call.

For years it has accused the Nationalist Party of arrogance. Yet that is precisely what it is displaying in its most extreme form.

Though never forgivable, the PN was at least in government for many years before the accusation was levelled. The PL has been there but two short weeks.

On day one Joseph Muscat’s administration mishandled the appointment of the civil service head, effectively sacking Godwin Grima and replacing him with a militant figure, before unceremoniously asking for the resignations of all permanent secretaries. Things have not improved since.

Labour’s former president, Mario Vella, is apparently heading Malta Enterprise and taking decisions without having been given any formal appointment of sorts, while it emerged in the past few days that James Piscopo, the PL’s former CEO, is the latest Labour official to be given a job – this time at Transport Malta

The Labour Government, it seems, does not feel the need to go through the formalities of issuing a call for an executive position of this nature. It may argue that in certain instances the PN had done the same. But this would be to ignore the scathing criticism that came in those days from its Ħamrun headquarters and Dr Muscat’s repeated call that Malta under him would be inclusive.

On the evidence so far, it is more akin to an exclusive club - quite irrespective of whether the candidates it has selected are suitable for the posts or not.

It is quickly emerging that the large electoral majority coupled with the state of shock and disarray within the Nationalist Party has given Labour licence to run riot in the public sector. If not checked quickly, this could well become a malignant disease.

There are further troubling rumblings coming from various quarters, not least the PL’s former general secretary Jason Micallef who, after failing to get elected, has launched a less than veiled campaign on social media to land the CEO’s job at PBS.

If Labour is more true to its word than it has displayed so far, the last thing it would do is allow someone so divisive anywhere near the State broadcaster. Instead, all the Government’s efforts should be to take any political sting out rather than putting it in.

The big question is, for how long the PN will remain an impotent Opposition? That largely depends on how it conducts itself. The initial signs are not encouraging, as the party has split into factions spouting bile and hate at one another – not to mention at media like ourselves and those associated with us.

Just so those taken in by the lying rumour mongerers are set straight once and for all: We are not indebted (in either sense) to the owner of the company that has supplied us with print machinery and paper (who is now Dr Muscat’s chief of staff), though we cannot vouch for other clients which include the PN; and no shareholder of our parent company – this includes members of the Strickland Foundation whether they are involved in politics or not – has any say in editorial decisions at this media organisation, which Mabel Strickland had laid down should be taken solely by the editor.

The longer it takes for the PN to stop searching for scapegoats, understand the real reasons for its defeat and move on as a united party, the longer the PL will have a free rein, or reign. That is in no one’s interest but Labour’s.