“No one is bigger than the party and no one is bigger than the country.” Thumbs up for this reply from Prime Minister Robert Abela when pressed by the media on the future of a backbencher who justified ‘pigging out’ because everyone else was indulging. Obviously, words have to be followed up by action.
It is what true Labourites demand. Labourites who gave many years of their life dedicating their energies to the party when it was in opposition for practically 25 years between 1987 and 2013 (excluding the two-year Alfred Sant interlude).
Labourites who had nothing to pig upon (certainly not on the rats feasting on the rotten pizza leftovers I found at the Maċina after the electoral loss of May 1987). Labourites with high moral principles of giving without expecting anything in return. Labourites for whom the rewards for their sacrifices was defending the social democratic principles of MLP/PL and working tirelessly for its return to government from where it could deliver its policies for the general benefit of the nation.
I am among Labourites who feel offended seeing people, who were nowhere to be seen when the going was tough, betraying the principles of what Labour should stand for. Seeing pseudo Labourites flaunting their wealth on social media without even bothering that they attract doubts about the source of their wealth.
Even if their wealth came from perfectly legitimate sources, Labour representatives should be careful not to project a perception of prioritising luxury over values. Only Eva Peron could perform that trick and we had no social media then.
When in 2016 I was denied my career dream of the governorship for the Central Bank by a false invention about corruption which I was supposed to have committed some 20 years earlier, I put the country first.
I asked Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to consider me no further for the position and gradually exited even my deputy governor position (though I still had three years on my term) after I ensured continuity for the incoming governor. When the opposition made such false accusation as their gospel truth, I wrote an article in the Times of Malta (‘Organisation bigger than the individual’, July 6, 2016) where I said:
“Let me explain why I thought that the interest of the organisation demanded I withdraw my name from consideration for appointment as governor.
“The charges against me are serious, even if untrue and fabricated, with a scope of causing maximum damage, motivated by hate and vendetta… and my refusal to give in to blackmail to extract a financial settlement that is not due.
“Pursuing the governorship under such conditions would harm the organisation, which is bigger, much bigger, than the individual. Well-wishers have protested that this is unfair, but then who said that the world is a fair place?”
It is heartbreaking to see the political capital gained through three consecutive electoral landslide wins eroded by sleaze, egoism and corruption
It took me more than six years to prove my innocence through a libel decided on February 8 this year. I am opening up now because that verdict is final as the decision was not appealed. Nothing will restore the time lost under the shadow of false accusation, nothing will ease the pain, nothing will restore what I was forced to miss out. But I am proud I put the party and the country ahead of my own personal interest. That is what is expected from true labourites.
It is heartbreaking to see the political capital gained through three consecutive electoral landslide wins being eroded by sleaze, egoism and corruption.
There is a big difference between investing political capital and wasting it. They both reduce the current stock of political capital. But investing wisely means it will come back with rich profits. Wasting it will be permanent erosion.
Wasting political capital is accepting with impunity gross departures from the values that Labour stand for, especially the values of spending public funds with proper governance which must be upheld at all times on the principle of adhering or explaining in full transparency.
Investing political capital means taking hard unpopular decisions which are necessary to lead this country to long-term prosperity, not just short-term accommodation. Decisions that accept that no true solution for our chaotic traffic problems can be found purely by carrot measures without using also, in appropriate doses, the stick measures to make private transport more expensive, at least in certain road arteries and at certain times.
Decisions that accept that we cannot have a truly functioning democracy unless we regulate properly the financing of political parties in a serious manner where political parties are… well political parties, and not commercial enterprises.
Decisions that accept that elected national representatives cannot be young 20- or 30-something who plan to make a career from politics.
People in such positions have to be mature adults who would have succeeded in their non-political careers, and who have attained a level of economic independence which makes them difficult targets for vested interests trying to buy their favours.
Only then we can really feel that no one is bigger than the party, the country.
Alfred Mifsud is a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Malta and former chairman of ONE.