The hijack continues

The only coherent policy adopted by the Malta Labour Party over the past decade was that of U-turns. The European Union issue is just the last one of several ranging from local councils to Value Added Tax, from liberalisation to privatisation. And the list goes on.

What scares the hell out of moderate voters is the simple fact that years and years in opposition has taught nothing to the echelons in the MLP. The likes of Manwel Cuschieri, and his hitherto unquelled stream of invective, as a central part of the MLP's media machine are a clear sign of the way things would be under a Labour administration for our country.

Any so-called floating voter in his right senses - as the general election clearly showed - scurries away from this type of politics as it is not based on the human person but on the ultimate aim of attaining power at all costs. This is the only principle the current MLP leadership has never steered away from.

The charade of a Hamlet-like dilemma of whether to change or not to change leadership, to contest or not to contest - in daisy petal fashion of "she loves me, she loves me not" - which reached its conclusion last week, is a case in point. The votes that Alfred Sant received in the leadership contest are evidence enough of the course the MLP will be taking with him at the helm.

Were it not for the simple fact that our country needs a healthy opposition which acknowledges its role and duty towards the people who, not withstanding the above, voted Labour, I would not even give this issue any importance. But as we have embarked on a very important national project - making EU membership a success for all of us - we cannot just keep quiet, as if nothing matters.

The fact that the only consistent behaviour by the MLP was that of changing tack whenever it suited them and their yearning for power speaks volumes about what our country would have been be in for had they won the general election.

The tactics and ploys devised by the pro-Sant lobby within the MLP in order to maintain the status quo at the top is symptomatic of what they deem as a priority and the "qualities" they will inject were they to take charge of the government.

Why is it that several Labour sympathisers and officials have unequivocally stated that their party needs a change? What is it that makes them - as John Attard Montalto said - risk their political career? It is ironic that a political party aiming to lead the country is in such a pitiful state to the extent that someone from within, who disagrees with what is projected as the mainstream, ends up putting his political fate on the line if he speaks up.

In an article entitled "Just for his sake..." (April 9), I wrote that: "As the electoral campaign draws to its final stages, we are once again finding ourselves realising how one person has 'hijacked' his political party, and is trying to do the same with the country".

It is clear that Dr Sant's statement the day following the election result, that he did not intend to contest his party's leadership, was just a sham in order to draw out the potential contenders for his post. This put him in a position of strength.

The political hijack of the MLP persists.

This is what the opposition in the House of Representatives will be for the next five years.

I concluded my previous article thus: "The saddest thing of all is that those who should know better and who stand right by his side are not doing anything to change the situation".

At least, after the umpteenth electoral defeat, there are people courageous enough to stand up and be counted. Maybe, for our country's sake there is light at the end of the tunnel after all.

Dr Mifsud is president of the Nationalist Party's administrative council, president of the College of Nationalist Councillors and mayor of Pietà