The Taghna Lkoll apologists are beginning to cut quite a sorry figure during their online interventions. Their attempts to parrot the tu quoque arguments championed by their leader have become pathetic to say the least and the main reason is that this government’s actions all round have become indefensible. That this would happen was predictable from the start – too many cheques to cash, too many contradicting promises, too many mouths to feed and most of all (as we like to repeat) the glaring absence of a real political plan.
It is blatantly evident that the only road map Labour cares about is the one dotted with milestones and achievements that are only measured by how much money ends up lining the pockets of the Taghna Lkoll extended family. If there was a political plan in Joseph Muscat’s mind it was a short-term calculation that exploited the ugly deficiencies of our political system to the maximum. Muscat will have a place in history as he so crassly aspires – he will be remembered as the Prime Minister to have dragged our politics to the pits. I still cannot understand what kind of ambition can be driven by so much negativity – there is no apparent place for the real good of the people.
It is just there that the Labour government’s performance is at its worst. The complete and utter absence of consideration for the greater good of the nation. While words and spin are all about Taghna Lkoll, the good of the south, the new middle class and such similar claptrap the actions of the Labour government are those of one big plunderer intent on ransacking the public good as quickly as possible.
It does not stop or start at the ODZ – or even more particularly at Zonqor – it is a plunder that is happening step by step and eroding the institutions and heritage of our nation in much the same way woodworm will crawl and erode a fabulous bit of furniture from within. We have seen in the past few days how the Lands Department is practically run as a Labour appointee’s fiefdom allowing for undemocratic obscenities to be perpetrated.
That we get this kind of information from a blog that has had to assume the role of a kind of Wikileaks is very telling of the current state of affairs. The opposition is still hard at work to rebuild credibility thanks to the massive bombardment that it had suffered in the eye of the public. It cannot work in parliament because Labour treats parliament like a playground for despots – hiding behind petty and trumped up excuses in order to obfuscate the truth about its contracts and dealings. You only have to look at the Konrad Mizzi AWOL farce last week to see the way Labour treats its obligations of accountability to the nation’s supreme institution.
The first sign of voters’ anger and indignation is the increased stories being passed on to willing outlets of information. No matter how much noise the rent-a-privitera movement is making on the web you can feel that there is a growing counter-movement eager to throw light on the misdoings of the government and its friends. These angry voters might still not have understood the importance of activism and participation in the anti-ODZ development movement but are sufficiently angry to start asking questions and doing their bit by providing relevant information wherever they can.
Labour’s game has been uncovered because it necessarily dealt with property in many forms. Public good in the form of ODZ was the first area in which alarm bells started ringing. Muscat and his “what’s the fuss” attitude contributed to the acceleration of the denouement – citizens were finally seeing the careless attitude Muscat had with public property. It would have been bad enough were Muscat selling land to some reputable university, but when the mask finally fell that the land was being sold to Jordanian builders who had no previous experience in education it was a bit too much.
Meanwhile we are still dragging the power station saga with the government using public funds (also public property) to guarantee a loan to a private enterprise in order to get things going. That there are some people in some quarters trying to stir the tu quoque argument even in the light of this kind of proof is an indicator of how sick our politics has become.
As for Gaffarena Gate it is an eye opener (if one was still needed) as to what the effects of Taghna Lkoll politics are. We already had a race to mediocrity fuelled by alternation whereby the only point that counted in an electoral manifesto was the not being the other party. Taghna Lkoll threw in a strong dose of mediocrity plus with its army of incompetent appointees that are only bound to expose the ugly truth of this kind of short-term power politics.
It is now the PN’s duty to first and foremost document meticulously every faux pas of the Labour government – from its birth to the current almost daily gaffe-fest. It is also its duty to continue working on real change based on politics and values while trying to attract a new wave of politicians willing to sign up on that kind of ticket. It must be a ticket that does not fear the absence of compromises for the sake of gaining power. It must be a ticket that clearly states a program not just for tomorrow but for the future. It must be a program of building, creating and inventing. It must inspire confidence.
Labour’s government by impropriety must end.
