It seems that politics is all about seats. Politicians fight tooth and nail for seats – a seat in Parliament, a majority of seats in a local council, seating according to protocol during ceremonial events. Therefore, when politicians leave seats empty, it is certainly a signal that something is wrong!
The unveiling of the 20 projects the government is proposing for Grand Harbour was an event to which many prominent people were invited. These included the mayors of localities on the shores of Grand Harbour. Most of these mayors are Labour mayors. Did this stop the Nationalist government from inviting Labour mayors from having the first peek at the government’s holistic project for Grand Harbour? Surely the fact that the Prime Minister unveiled the plans does not mean that there will be no discussions, no suggestions, and no controversy.
However, every single Labour mayor that was invited failed to attend. The MLP General Secretary claimed that the party did not organise a boycott of the event, but if one had to take the expression literally, birds of the same feather flock together, the Labour mayors coincidentally all flew away from the launch. I do not believe in coincidence. Coincidence means something that happens without planning, and the fact that all Labour mayors acted in the same manner, means that they’re either psychic or that the whole thing was planned.
I recently organised a boycott for Nationalist mayors during the last mayors’ meeting. I declared the boycott, I shouldered the responsibility and I gave the reasons why I called the boycott. I was praised in some quarters, and criticised by others. The declaration was made and none of the mayors were constrained to invent limp excuses for not turning up.
What amazes me are the excuses some of the mayors gave for not turning up to listen to the Prime Minister and Minister Austin Gatt and how they expected to get away with it. There was one mayor who said that he was in Gozo and therefore it was impossible for him to attend. He may have been in Gozo, but he also has a deputy mayor, whose sole reason for occupying this post is to replace the mayor when he is unable to be present. I doubt whether the Prime Minister would have refused the substitution. Other mayors commented that they had not been consulted about the project. The reply to this is simple. The activity was the launching of the project that was meant to spark a debate on Grand Harbour. There are those who will agree and there are those who will not! There are those who will have their own ideas and would want to either communicate them to the people concerned or else express them publicly. However, the notion that local councils have to be present at every brainstorming session is ludicrous. Local councils are consulted on a number of issues; however, the initiative has to be in the hands of somebody. In this particular case the government initiated it. From that point onwards, local councils and other institutions could give their input.
Dr Alfred Sant is campaigning hard and visiting all local councils in the Grand Harbour area to discuss his vision. He has already met a number of Nationalist mayors and councillors and I find it normal that in a democratic political discourse, such contacts are encouraged.
Dr Sant will be visiting my local council at a time when unfortunately I will be abroad. I would have loved to meet Dr Sant and discuss some issues with him. I asked the executive secretary to write and give Dr Sant my apologies and ask him whether an alternative date could be set when I would be in Malta and have the opportunity to take part in the discussion. The reply was in the negative, because these, I was informed, are scheduled meetings.
I was prepared to discuss with Dr Sant, the concept of efficiency and financial accountability that his party is promising, and with this concept in mind, how is it that the Labour majority in Pieta` is a living example of inefficiency and the standard bearer of a total lack of vision and creativity. The Labour mayor of Pieta` and the Labour majority have not come up with one single, solitary, fresh, creative idea. Labour criticised most, if not all, of my initiatives when I held the post of mayor; however, these very same policies are now being religiously followed. I was prepared to show him the agendas for council meetings that we as councillors receive monthly, and point out that we rarely if ever speak about important issues, but tediously tend to concentrate on silly things such as dancing lessons, prizes, Pieta` Day, and other mundane matters of a purely administrative nature. If Dr Sant is expecting any inspiring contributions to his party’s vision for Grand Harbour from the mayor, or the deputy mayor of Pieta’, he is out of touch with reality, and he might as well turn the occasion into a photo opportunity.
Unlike the Nationalist Party, which has successfully governed this country and led it to take its rightful place in the EU, we can only gauge the Labour Party’s performance from their mayors and councillors who have executive power and are guided by Labour headquarters. The residents of Pieta` have a raw deal. However, the same can be said for many other Labour-led localities. I was recently criticised for taking this position because there have been Nationalist majorities that have not performed as well as they should have. The fact is that one can praise the Nationalist Party on both a local and national level. I sincerely believe that by far and large Nationalist majorities on a local level have delivered, although they have not received much appreciation for their achievements. Another issue is that the limelight is more focused on Nationalist performance at national level, while the Labour have tried to push their local councils as a showcase of their eventual government. If this is the case, then they should be very embarrassed with the goings on in these localities and perhaps reconsider washing the party’s hands of them and giving them once again, their independence.
Dr Mifsud is president of the College of Councillors of the Nationalist Party and a candidate on the first district.