Fenech Adami "most divisive" person, Sant says

Alfred Sant yesterday appealed to the party's supporters to use their head so that the party would not fall into the Nationalist Party's trap.

Speaking in Cottonera, Dr Sant said that although the party was against the nomination of former prime minister Eddie Fenech Adami as the next President, it would not boycott the post itself.

Dr Sant said some people felt the party should be more forceful. However, he said, unnecessary talk about the party being passive harmed the MLP and worked in favour of the Nationalist Party.

"We will not say more than we should and get into the Nationalist Party's trap," he said, adding that this was the reason why the MLP parliamentary group had unanimously decided to vote against the proposal, but not boycott the post of president. He said this post was introduced by a Labour government in 1974, and the MLP could not do anything that would let others take the occasion to undermine the post.

"There will be a lot of opportunities to show our disagreement, but let us use our head," he stressed.

Dr Sant said the party was going to make a distinction between the post of President and the person who occupied that post. The Labour leader asked how Dr Gonzi could present his predecessor as a President who would unite the Maltese people, and added that this was not serious, but the Prime Minister was taking the people for a ride. He asked people whether they could imagine any more divisive person than Dr Fenech Adami. And himself added the rejoinder, "maybe me".

The opposition leader said he understood that a number of Labour supporters were offended and irritated that the Nationalist government had decided to nominate the former prime minister as President. He said that although Prime Minister Gonzi had appealed to the people not to judge him by his words but by his actions, his first deed was "a vulgarity".

"Never before has such an arrogant decision been taken," he said, adding that this was a decision of people who were not really at the service of the nation but wanted the nation to be at their service.

Dr Sant said the MLP parliamentary group had nominated three people - who could not be called Labourites and did not come from a political background - for the post, but the Nationalist government had taken the decision to nominate Dr Fenech Adami.

He also stressed the importance of creating work, and sustaining existent employment. He stressed that week after week jobs were being lost and no others created, despite the proposals by the MLP on how this could be done. He said Cottonera was suffering from problems of lack of employment, and the Labour Party wanted to address the problem in Cottonera as a whole.

Dr Sant said the party was ready to work with everyone to create employment so that people, especially youths, could feel secure. He said people have asked him whether he thought Dr Gonzi would create employment in Cottonera since he contested the election on that district. He said it would be good if the Prime Minister did address employment problems in that area as long as work was shared among everyone, and not only Nationalist supporters benefited.

The Labour leader also spoke about the importance of Freedom Day, March 31. He said the Nationalist Party tried to overlook this day although it had spent Lm600,000 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Independence Day, and would be spending Lm500,000 to celebrate EU accession.

"The acquisition of freedom and neutrality is an important value, and we shall not allow anybody to try and deviate our attention from it," he said. He said it was important to remember this achievement, which the country had made under the leadership of former Labour prime minister Dom Mintoff.

Dr Sant also stressed the importance for Labour supporters to vote in June's MEP elections. He said people would not be voting for EU accession but for their representatives in the European Parliament.

"We cannot leave space for others to take the seats," he said.

The same thought was expressed by MLP deputy leader Michael Falzon, who urged people to go out and vote on June 12, telling them that they had a choice of either voting for the MLP candidates or leaving space for others.

The MLP's observer within the European Parliament, George Vella also spoke about the importance of Labour candidates being elected in June's election "to be able to make a difference" mainly because they would be part of the Socialist group, whose programme was on the same lines as the MLP's.

Labour MP Joe Mizzi spoke about the problems in Maltapost, which, he said, was efficient some time ago before the Nationalist government gave it to foreigners to manage. He said that although the government had admitted failure, it still renewed the contract of the chief executive, who earns Lm300,000 annually.

Party leader Dr Sant also mentioned a fund-raising activity that would be held on Wednesday to raise money for the Workers' Day celebrations. The Labour leader said the celebrations on May 1 were not intended to compete with the EU accession activities, but because the party believed in the importance of Workers' Day.