The Nationalist Party’s electoral commission had not yet officially announced the result of its leadership election. Yet, the Labour Party had already issued a statement to claim the contest had been won by the same “establishment” shunned by the electorate in successive elections.
As the PN media was reporting that newcomer Bernard Grech had garnered more than two-thirds of the vote, the PL, clearly failing to realise that a party leader’s election is a crucial exercise in a healthy democracy, used terms like ‘factions’ and ‘past dynasties’ to denigrate the members’ choice of new leader.
In a post on Facebook, government whip Glenn Bedingfield predicted that Grech would break both Simon Busuttil’s and Adrian Delia’s records as he would be removed within two years.
There is hardly any need to point out that Labour is not in a position to preach about democracy, governance and what constitutes a healthy political process. The pot and the kettle come to mind.
What really should be of grave concern to Labour is not the “establishment” at Pietà – incidentally Delia’s battle cry in trying to fend off his critics – but the one that evidently still calls the shots at both Mile End and Castille.
What the party (Labour) should be railing against is the ‘establishment’ that ingeniously corrupted governance to the point that it will now take years to repair Malta’s international ill-repute
What the party should be railing against is the “establishment” that ingeniously corrupted governance to the point that it will now take years to repair Malta’s international ill-repute.
And for Bedingfield, well he is the one who, testifying in the public inquiry looking into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder, denied he was employed by the Office of the Prime Minister to attack her but did not deny he wrote the blog during working hours. Labour stooped so low that its statement even sought to foment an anti-migrant sentiment.
Come Sunday morning and Prime Minister Robert Abela, rather than trying to make amends for his party’s absurdities that show the depth of the hole it has dug for the political class, puts his foot deeper into the mud.
Resuming the migration theme raised by his party a few hours earlier, he warned against anything being done to obstruct the government from stopping migrants from landing in Malta.
Labour's reaction of playing the migration card to appeal to Delia’s xenophobic supporters speaks volumes on the pitiful state we are in. Rather than taking the higher moral ground, Labour is seeking a cheap opportunity to host the more unsavoury elements in the PN.
And, in line with his now evident political immaturity, populism and obsession with putting the economy above everything else, he admitted that, for him, Libya is not only a way of solving the migration issue but a potential source of investment and business.
He put the economy before people’s health when he dictated that COVID-19 containment measures be totally relaxed. Now, he is even linking the human tragedy of migration with business opportunities.
The icing on the cake came at the end of his speech.
He called for dialogue aimed at bringing unity in the country, adding that he believed in the politics of unity and in the convergence of ideas.
If he really expects the new PN leader to take him seriously when he invites him to sit down with him to explore a holistic vision for the country, Abela must first stop those around him from coming up with their puerile and ridiculous statements. It is no wonder that so many level-headed people are keeping at arm’s length from the sorry state of our politics.