MLP Vigilance Board warns Alfred Mifsud

The Labour Party's Vigilance Board has written to Alfred Mifsud, former chairman of the party's media and MLP candidate in last April's general election, warning that action will be taken against him unless he stops "harming" the party through his writings.

Pointing out that the action was taken on the board's own initiative, chairman Tommy Roberts said the board will be forced to take action unless Mr Mifsud stopped damaging the party "at once" through his articles.

When contacted, Mr Mifsud said he had nothing to hide and that his arguments were constructive.

"Instead of trying to rebut my arguments they are trying to shut me up. Time will tell whether I was right or not," he said curtly.

Mr Mifsud, considered by many as a moderate, said he had already written to the board in connection with the matter, after he received the same warning in writing last week. Since then, he has not received any other correspondence.

He preferred not to give further comments.

Mr Mifsud's writings are known to be frank and sometimes critical of his own party and have often provided fuel for the Nationalist media.

The main article in contention appears to be the one he wrote for l-Orizzont on July 10.

In it he recalled an incident over a year ago when he had publicly said that if the MLP manifesto included a proposal to remove VAT, then he would not contest the general election.

He wrote that Opposition Leader Alfred Sant's criticism of this statement at the time was a setback to his candidacy because loyalty to a party leader came above anything else. In fact, Mr Mifsud, although making a fairly good showing in the two districts he contested in his first election, failed to win a seat in Parliament last April.

Without mincing words, Mr Mifsud opined that the party needs new faces to 'sell' its new policies to the electorate.

Without mentioning Dr Sant by name, Mr Mifsud said it was difficult to draw up new policies with old faces because the party will end up in a worse situation.

Mr Mifsud said it would be difficult for the very same people who made the EU issue a question of principle to now preach about accepting the new reality.

He also accused his party of coming round to accept VAT and the retention of the Gozo Ministry too late in the day.

The party cannot win the next election without making people accountable for what happened at the last election, he wrote.

Since it was voted out of power in 1998, the MLP has been a "reactive" party rather than focusing on drawing up its own agenda, he added.

Writing on the Labour Party's electronic newspaper maltastar.com in April, Mr Mifsud went on to blame internal party rivalry for his failure to win a seat in Parliament.

He accused fellow Labour candidates on the fourth and seventh districts of bad-mouthing him with Labour voters.

In another article in L-Orizzont on August 7, which certainly incensed some party faithful, Mr Mifsud questioned the party structures governing the election of the leader.

He accused the MLP media of giving Dr Sant an edge over the other candidates when he decided to run again for party leader.

"Persons who were preparing to the contest the leadership changed their mind after seeing the antics (buzullotti) of May 1," he wrote.

Dr Sant had announced he would again be seeking the leadership during a May Day rally, less than a month after he had declared otherwise.

Mr Mifsud continued: "I can remain silent and applaud to ingratiate myself... But we will lose the next election because the leadership race would have been a contentious one."