“L-ewwel il-Laburist, it-tieni l-laburist, it-tielet il-Laburist...” (Labour come first, second and third).
This is the mission statement of the Labour Party, as it always has been. But it takes a Silvio Parnis to state it out in public. For those more dishonest and devious, like the outgoing leader, the spiel for public consumption is ‘meritocracy’.
The thousands of gullible voters who believed Joseph Muscat’s promise of meritocracy in 2013 cannot be blamed. Muscat hid his true intentions well.
This time round there isn’t even an attempt to hide the party’s intentions. In the context of a complete meltdown of the country brought about by the criminal incompetence of its previous leader, Labour becomes even more brazen.
In his partisan activity, Chris Fearne and his two chosen speakers, Manuel Cuschieri and Silvio Parnis, had three important messages.
The first from Parnis: the Labour government under its new leader will continue to discriminate against those who don’t vote Labour. In what should be a democratic, modern European country, a member of parliament endorses our next prime minister and unashamedly informs the country that there are first class and second class citizens.
The first class citizens, Labour voters, will be given top, second and third priority: “L-ewwel il-Laburist, it-tieni l-Laburist, it-tielet il-Laburist.”
The second class citizens, the rest of the country, will only get a look in after Labour voters have been accommodated. This is a clear statement that the Labour Party in government will follow a policy of discrimination – based on political views. And while the learned MP makes his criminal intent clear, the next prime minister lamely looks on.
Needless to say, the rest of the Labour Party will hardly intervene to condemn such reckless statements when it stood by as far worse was being planned inside its own headquarters and committed by its own leader.
The second message came from Cuschieri, notorious for his vile, offensive and divisive language. He was true to form. “I have learnt that my only enemy is the Nationalist Party and nobody else,” he shouted to deafening applause from Fearne’s supporters.
Hardly conciliatory and unifying words. Fearne knew Cuschieri’s repertoire full well. Why did Fearne invite him to speak at his event? Surely Fearne must carry the responsibility for the divisive, threatening and offensive words of his guests.
What he certainly must carry responsibility for is his own message.
He qualified that he was making a statement to annoy, to irritate. He swore that as long as he lives the Nationalist Party will never be in government again – an ominous warning from somebody who aspires to be the prime minister of a democratic European state.
The Labour Party is again faced with the decision of its generation – change the party for the good of this country
How does Fearne plan to keep the Nationalist Party out of power for at least the next 26 years (average life expectancy in Malta is 82 years)? Does he intend to use the same tactics that his personal friend Dom Mintoff used?
As an active member of the Mintoff era Għaqda Zagħzagħ Socjalisti, Fearne must have witnessed first hand how dissenters and protesters were treated by Mintoff and his party thugs. Alternation of power is an essential condition of democracy.
Fearne’s oath to prevent that alternation of power is a direct threat to the essence of democracy.
And Fearne is no doubt the better of the two options which the Labour Party presents its members and by default inflicts on the country.
The alternative, Robert Abela, has Neville Gafa on his side. That should be enough to make anybody with a moral compass steer clear. Abela has revealed enough of his own views to make honest citizens despair.
He stands as the candidate of continuity – which translates into a promise of guaranteed impunity for those who abused power, committed crimes and engineered the towering scandals of corruption.
He threatens that he will only tolerate “peaceful protest”. He believes that the role of the prime minister is to stifle dissent and that he will have the power to do so when he decides it is “provocation”.
He markets himself as “simple and sensitive (qalbi zgħira)” when what is required is somebody with a deep understanding of the complexity of government, a steely determination and unwavering integrity and courage. This is a contest for the leadership of a political party in power not a missionary post.
He plans to consult Joseph Muscat, freshly named man of the year in organised crime and corruption, every day.
Abela’s shamelessness and sense of entitlement is most evident when he justifies the €670,000 that his wife, Labour Party executive secretary and he have ‘earned’ since 2013 from the Labour government, apart from his salary as an MP.
In 2019 alone he received a €130,000 direct order from the environment ministry. And on top of all this he has been the Prime Minister’s personal legal consultant and found time to act as Gafa’s lawyer defending him from accusations of claiming thousands of euro he was never entitled to.
Abela has no postgraduate qualifications. Which graduate with a first degree and no further postgraduate training can dream of earning hundreds of thousands of euro in direct orders? It would take somebody with a first degree over 20 years to earn that much. This is textbook cronyism but Abela is unashamed.
His poor grasp of the basics of democracy is manifested in the disdain he showed by launching his campaign without inviting the media and by refusing to be interviewed by sections of the media. In democratic countries, the media is considered the fourth pillar of the state. In Malta it was the only pillar left standing to protect the citizens from the excesses of Muscat and his cronies like Abela.
In the face of such an unprecedented systemic failure for the country but particularly for the party, Labour’s loudest voices are those of Jason Micallef, Neville Gafa and Manuel Cuschieri. Surely there must be an honourable, less embarrassing and abrasive group within the Labour Party, a voice for reason that demands an honest evaluation and admission of the party’s deplorable failures.
In the 1980s it took the murder of Raymond Caruana, the bungled attempt at its cover up by some in the Labour Party and the complicity of a criminal police commissioner that eventually brought the party to accept the constitutional changes that allowed for alternation of power.
Mintoff finally saved the nation from his own party. By agreeing to the changes to the constitution, against the vociferous opposition of his own MPs, he knew it would spell the end of Labour in power for a long time but he did the right thing.
Again in 1998 he voted against his own government when he felt his party was harming the country.
After another murder, this time carefully planned and executed, and its attempted cover up by Castille, the Labour Party is again faced with the decision of its generation – change the party for the good of this country. Changing the leader alone is not enough.
Dom Mintoff, the Socialist icon, gave the party one pearl of wisdom –do not hesitate bringing the party down when it is harming the country.
Malta l-ewwel u qabel kollox.
Prof Kevin Cassar is Consultant vascular surgeon at Mater Dei Hospital and Professor of Surgery at the University of Malta.