By the time this piece is published, our government might have divulged “the compromise” it is ready to offer regarding the issue of the postponement of next year’s local council elections. The very fact that it is speaking of a “compromise” speaks volumes about this government’s way of perceiving and dealing with democratic principles.
Prior to the last general election, Labour was very vociferous when portraying itself as a changed party. Dr Muscat lost no opportunity to distance himself from the anti-democratic behaviour of the Labour Party of the 1980s. And people believed him, so much so that they elected him their prime minister with a very comfortable majority. From the outset, this government showed that sticking to the rules is not its forte. This attitude is abundantly clear in the way the government answers parliamentary questions, in the way it handles public appointments, in the way it tackled the Farrugia Sacco affair and now in its decisions to play with election dates.
In my opinion, the Nationalist Party should stick to its current position, spelt out by Dr Simon Busuttil, of not accepting such a compromise. The elections should be held as planned. Full stop. There’s nothing wrong in discussing the possibility of holding elections together with the EP elections at some future date but not to postpone those which have already been scheduled.
We do not want to be part of an effort to weaken democracy in our country. After all, throughout its existence the Nationalist Party defended democracy (as it did in the 80s), created space for people to have their say (opened up broadcasting, set up local councils), and established a legislative framework to enable people to have their say (enacted legislation enabling referenda). Above all, it believed in and worked hard for full membership in the EU which is the best guarantee that our country could have for the defence of democracy.
Hopefully, the government realises that the road it has taken is certainly not beneficial to the country and to us, its citizens. The lame excuses it came up with for not holding the elections as scheduled make no sense and people are starting to realise that there may be other reasons behind such a proposal. Let’s wait and see.
Incompetence
When the electorate elects a party to govern the country, it expects it to govern competently, diligently and to achieve results. Unfortunately, in the past 18 months this government has showed incompetency in a number of areas. Minister Joe Mizzi’s failure to deliver the new parliament building is a case in point. Despite having had 18 months to complete a project which was almost finished prior to March 2013, despite giving assurances that the project would be completed on time, despite setting 12th October as the date when the building should have been inaugurated, he failed to deliver.
Unfortunately, the same minister has also failed to impress with the way he handled the public transport issue. First he threw out Arriva, then set up a public company which failed to improve the service, then forked out thousands of euro in subsidies in return for such a service and to top it all, so far he has not delivered the service he had promised. It has now been announced that the new operator will take over on 1 January. I wouldn’t bet on that. But let’s wait and see.
A blessing out of a tragedy
The Zahra family’s idea of setting up a foundation named after the late Lisa Marie Zahra is a great initiative. Unfortunately, the tragedy which saw Lisa Marie lose her life in such a tragic way is still on the family’s mind. The events that led to the tragedy, which have come out in the court and in the media, have sent shivers down our spines. It has shown how vulnerable our teenagers can be. Above all, it exposed the existent need to provide full support to our young ones in a very crucial phase of their life.
From what I gather, this is the main reason why this family, still mourning their loved one, decided to help other parents and their children so that what happened to their daughter or niece or cousin and indeed to them, would not happen to others as well. Indeed a commendable idea which deserves the full support of all.