On Sunday March 5, responding to a deeply-felt citizen duty, I went to the Nationalist Party’s Valletta protest to register my anger and disgust at the Labour/Vitals/Steward theft of so many millions of euros of Maltese taxpayers’ money.
The protest march and meeting were organised by the PN in a non-partisan manner and included participation by one of the major trade unions, namely the UĦM. Considering the enormity of Labour’s insult to Malta, one would have expected massive citizen participation; however, a relatively large and lively crowd did turn up.
Now we all recall how, years ago, Daphne Caruana Galizia served us with revelations and warnings over the sordid hospitals’ saga unfolding under Joseph Muscat.
We are now experiencing a baffling attempt by current Labour leaders to downplay this shameful tragedy and make us accept that, in the end, there is no one on whom to place a blame!
After a most damning court ruling, annulling a fraudulent agreement, will the authorities remain passive and inactive?
To achieve a state of immunity to various abusers, Labour administrations appear to exercise a restrictive influence on two important posts: the police commissioner and the attorney general.
All the current turmoil, about the Labour/Vitals/Steward hospitals hijack, arose not through any police or attorney general initiative but through an intervention by the then leader of the opposition, Adrian Delia, intent on exercising a parliamentary right.
Through this right, Delia moved out of the parliamentary orbit and engaged the law courts to intervene and decisively pass judgement on a theft.
It has taken a court ruling by an eminent judge to reignite an angry interest in this Labour/Vitals/Steward conspiracy. The Labour Party has managed to induce a huge chunk of its electorate to a state of perpetual stupor.
The Labour Party repeatedly stonewalls the PN opposition and refuses to engage in a meaningful parliamentary debate on vital issues that matter.
Legitimate requests for information on important public matters are sidelined, ignored and denied. To fulfil their mandated political duties, opposition members frequently must refer to our law courts.
The Labour effort to stonewall investigations on the hospitals mega scandal has now been defeated. Listening to the fiery speeches given at the PN’s protest meeting, one’s memory travelled back to the heady turbulent 1980s.
The speakers displayed an unusual fire and anger to match the gravity of the insult Labour has levelled at Malta. The court ruling leaves no space for ambiguous interpretations and there is anxious expectancy as to what is going to happen next.
Voters need to be convinced the PN team has the resolve, skills and ability to repair the disastrous effects of Labour’s limbo of duplicity and incompetence- Arthur Muscat
A merited acknowledgement also needs to be given to all those social players that kept the hospitals issue simmering up to the date of the court conclusions.
Leading the opposition, among so many others, we find Repubblika and its courageous leader, Robert Aquilina, Times of Malta and Shift, with their fearless editors and journalists, and the formidable Graffitti, with its striking original protests.
But, on their own, can these social players be an effective check on a ruthless Labour administration bent on corruption? Can these players stop and dismantle an infiltration by greedy and incompetent Labour activists into all spheres and levels of government?
Not necessarily, but, invariably, it takes a structured political party to beat another one. It takes an institutional opposition to keep a misbehaving government in check. Can the electorate hope, in particular those abstainers by now running into thousands, that indeed an invigorated PN should be able to present itself as an alternative government to the current Labour one?
At the moment, the tandem Grech/Delia ignites hope. But to credibly function, the party needs to update itself, it needs to clarify much more how it intends to, and will, change course on so many issues.
The party should not primarily ride on the corruption issue; each criticism it raises must be followed up with an alternative proposal. Proposals on so many fronts must be elevated to strong commitments.
Voters need to be convinced the PN team has the resolve, skills and ability to repair the disastrous effects of Labour’s limbo of duplicity and incompetence. In childhood, we learnt that limbo perpetually offers no hope for change. I prefer to believe that the island currently resides in purgatory. Purgatory offers a hope of redemption and an eventual release to heaven.
Arthur Muscat is a human resources and industrial relations specialist.