Almost four years ago, Joseph Muscat’s honeyed words and promises impressed and he won over a historic majority of Maltese. With his March 2013 electoral victory, Muscat achieved his aim and became Malta’s Prime Minister. What has been happening since then makes me feel that, before taking office in Castille, Muscat ensured that the electoral manifesto he flaunted so much was destroyed. He might also be putting mental pressure on himself to forget certain promises. I pity whoever believed him.
Muscat and Labour of the 80s
“Labour cannot afford to revert to tactics, style and people which in the past made it one of the most morally, physically and ideologically corrupt parties which our country ever had.” Joseph Muscat made this strong condemnation about Labour of the 80s in an article published in The Malta Independent of 25 September 1998 when he was Deputy Chairman of the Labour Youth Movement and executive member of the MLP (now Partit / Moviment Laburista). Muscat said he perceived the Labour Party then had an image which was not healthy at all and referred to those days as “the dull past”.
Muscat should have learnt a lot since 1998. He was unsuccessfully active against Malta’s EU membership. After Malta’s membership, he contested and was elected member of the European Parliament, after which he successfully contested the Labour Party leadership and became Leader of the Opposition. Eventually he contested the March 2013 election, although in a 2002 newspaper interview he declared he would never contest a general election as he is (was?) “neither a thief nor a missionary nor proven insane”.
Following Muscat’s 1998 harsh criticism of Labour of the eighties and the experiences he gained as MEP and as Leader of the Opposition, one expected his government would not revert to tactics and style of the eighties which he so strongly condemned. However, the government he leads is reminiscent of the eighties.
Malta does not belong to us all
“That is what I promise, that your country will belong to you” emphasised Joseph Muscat when introducing the 2013 Labour electoral manifesto. The majority of Maltese swallowed the bait and voted Labour. Since March 2013, many Maltese, including an ever-increasing number of Labour voters, are aware that Malta does not belong to us all as Muscat promised. Since then, happenings prove that Muscat’s battle cry of “Malta Tagħna Lkoll” was a sham. Muscat vehemently criticised Labour of the eighties as, he claimed, it “did not only differ between Labourites and Nationalists but also between Labourites depending on what electoral district they came from”. Much worse is happening.
Malta does not belong to us all as Muscat made the majority believe. Malta belongs to a clique that hijacked power for itself and its circle of friends. We are living in a Mickey Mouse country – while those on top pull the strings, the puppets and clique march on. Many Maltese, including a number of those who believed Muscat’s promises and voted Labour in 2013, share this opinion. Even ex-activists, ex-candidates, ex-officials and veterans of the Labour Party express it publicly.
“Labour has been killed”
Between October and November 2016, strong condemnations were issued against Muscat’s Labour, which he nicknamed “the Movement”. The sources are familiar to Labour and know Labour well.
“The (Labour) party has been killed ... we now have a movement, a group of corrupt opportunists”. This bombshell by Joe Camilleri, ex-MLP International Secretary and ex-Personal Assistant to former Labour Prime Minister Dom Mintoff appeared in the social media. This strong comment from an important source confirms how Malta under Muscat is languishing under scandals and alleged corruption. Camilleri concluded by encouraging the Maltese to stand up as now is the time.
Camilleri’s comment was followed by the book “L-Aqwa fl-Ewropa” (“The best in Europe”) by ex-Labour activist and ex-Labour candidate Mark A. Sammut. In his book, Sammut reacted to the Panama Papers scandal and how he who holds power is handling it. When interviewed about his book, Sammut expressed his opinion that the Panama Papers scandal is a threat to democracy in Malta and that political responsibility is shouldered by the person entrusted with power who should pronounce what action he is taking.
Following Muscat’s 1998 declaration in The Malta Independent and after ignoring promises made, and when one notes that scandals and alleged corruption cases are cropping up regularly notwithstanding Muscat’s promise to fight corruption, it is high time that Muscat compares his Labour Movement with the Labour Party of the eighties which he condemned. Does he not feel that his Movement is overtaking Labour of the eighties by being more “morally, physically and ideologically corrupt”?