The Malta Labour Party yesterday held another fund-raising campaign, its fourth such exercise during the current year. The Nationalist Party will be holding its traditional fund-raising campaign – its only one of the year – tomorrow.

Labour probably prefer to hold four initiatives because they like to stagger the amount of money they raise from their supporters over a longer period of time, while the Nationalists collect it in one occasion. It’s another example that shows the difference that exists between the two major parties.

We do not want to go into the merits of which party raises more funds. It is unfortunately so sad to see the political parties competing even on this matter, adding to the already spiced-up political scenario which grips the country.

Both, we are sure, spend many man hours preparing for these events in a bid to raise the money needed for the different causes – the PN, for example, is completing its new headquarters while the MLP, which opened theirs only a few years ago, use the money collected for their administrative needs.

No doubt, the money that is being raised by both parties goes a long way to pay for the massive

election campaign that both the PN and the MLP will be embarking upon as soon as Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi blows the whistle, presumably early next year.

Political parties need a lot of money to operate, and a lot of this money is collected through such fund-raising campaigns. It is a known fact that the Maltese are a generous people, and most would want to contribute to the political party they support, particularly at a time when the election is fast approaching.

Of course, political parties have every right to hold such campaigns. Although they do have other forms of raising money – such as through membership fees – such fund-raising activities enable them to absorb large amounts at one go, and at the same time take politicians closer to their own supporters. Many supporters, in fact, take the opportunity of such campaigns to visit their party headquarters.

However, it must be said that the money raised publicly by political parties is money taken away from people and institutions that probably need the cash much more than political parties do. There are many institutions who look forward to this time of the year in the hope that the money they receive from donations makes up, probably in part only, for the financial difficulties they have to face throughout the rest of the year.

This is because there is only so much that people can donate. As said earlier, the Maltese are very generous, and per capita we give much more that most of our European counterparts. But at the same time, if a family can give, say Lm20 (e46.59), this amount of money cannot be stretched beyond its value.

Political parties should therefore try not to impinge on other fund-raising activities that are scheduled to be held in aid of people in need. It is felt that the PN and MLP activities this week are held too close to a national campaign to raise funds for such people – the L-Istrina campaign, which will be held on 29 December.

The political parties will argue that December is the right time for such events because people feel they can spend a little bit more than they do during the rest of the year. But, at the same time, one wonders what amounts L-Istrina would raise if the PN and the MLP chose to hold their fund-raising events earlier during the year.