Frank Psaila's article (Party Funding: Leading By Example, September 19) follows the same pattern of Nationalist propaganda we've all become accustomed to: praising the "kap" to high heavens and pretending that the Nationalist Party has been in government for only a year or two. With a general election looming, regulation of political party financing has suddenly become Lawrence Gonzi's proposal.
According to Mr Psaila "his recommendation followed a request by PN general secretary Joe Saliba". Can I laugh out loud? Alternattiva Demokratika has been calling for an effective law regulating party financing for years on end. It was the Nationalist Party which sabotaged discussions about this, when it had insisted on making donations above Lm10,000 only "reportable". This was way back in 1995 during discussions of the Galdes Commission.
It would be interesting to know how many packets of Lm10,000 the PN has received since then. It would also be interesting if Mr Psaila did some investigative journalism and asked Parliamentary Secretary Tony Abela from where he got the wads of banknotes he waved on Net TV during a fundraising event in the not-so-distant past.
Mr Psaila's hagiographic article conveniently omits important details and wants us to believe that the PN is the champion of good governance and democracy. Maybe Mr Psaila should ask Joe Saliba to give us all a bit more detail about his revelation that the PN is financed by construction lobby. How much building material was donated to the PN for its headquarters? The Labour Party has also some questions to answer about how it financed the building of its headquarters. Who is calling the shots in this country?
Does anybody remember the reforms proposed in the PN-led government's discussion document Il-Bidla Tkompli? I think not. As always the PN propaganda machine throws a couple of slogans at us to keep gullible people hoping that at last some serious institutional reform will finally happen. But it's all pie in the sky.
After 20 years of government they want us to believe that they are serious about party financing.
They send us glossy leaflets about 20 projects in the harbour area, which are still just pictures: no timelines, no costings, nothing.
They say they want a system of governance based on meritocracy when they spent the last 20 years dishing out chairmanships and top posts in government companies and foundations to party loyalists. They suddenly dream of a Whistleblower Act, when they spent the last 20 years blaming the messenger instead of tackling the abuse which was brought to light. Just ask the former Ombudsman and Auditor General.
Alfred Sant recently promised to "do as the Nationalists are doing". That's just what we need. There is no way out, the only way to throw water on the arrogance of the power hungry PN and MLP is to elect MPs from AD. A Freedom of Information Act, a Whistleblower Act, an Act setting out the procedures to follow for government appointments to public entities will be a sine qua non for an agreement with any of the other parties for AD's support in Parliament. No ifs, no buts. It's the only way forward.