PanamaLabour is populating your mind with a funny communication. It’s called ‘Four years of firsts and, as expected, it closes with a plagiarised salute, this time from French presidential hopeful Emmanuel Macron's (my personal favourite) campaign: 'Forward', which is cute but kind of expired now like Joseph Muscat’s PanamaLabour.
As a true Labour MP now described as Leader of the Democratic Party, I believe that this cosmopolitan communiqué should have read like this…
Definitely an outstanding and memorable four years. Four years of grand sale and systematic dismantling of your past, present and your future. We have sold your energy sector and your energy independence as well as your chance to get cheap utility tariffs that reflect the market; your health sector, your own health and well being, your security, your hospitals and the manpower whose training you financed with your own taxes. We have sold your priceless natural heritage; your beautiful architectural gems gracing ancient towns and villages; your very own citizenship, the credibility of your country as a financial jurisdiction of repute. We have sold your horse racing track and lands; your fragile rural environmental character, your latrines, your cemeteries, your Air Malta (in the process).
And finally…
This is a work in progress if we can steal your vote a second time, we will sell the very soul of your enchanting islands and the magic balance that sets it apart from other Mediterranean lands. We have stolen everything from you but before you judge us, remember that we have given you free childcare and civil unions. In four years PanamaLabour accomplished all this, and just about managed to maintain the A rating we enjoyed during two financial crises and increased the national debt to an all time high.
So though the questions beg:
Where did all the money go? Where did the hundreds of millions of EU funds go? Where is the difference between the money that was collected or supposed to have been collected on our behalf and the money that was actually and factually distributed to improve our citizens' lives?
In spite of the fact that there is a massive difference and we know that you are legitimately asking, where did that money go?
Even so, we are still asking you to trust us with a second legislature! And we promise you that we will answer your questions and any other questions that may arise at the end of 2023, provided that your queries are not commercially sensitive of course.
Meanwhile, we just wish you to be optimistic and use your wonderful imagination to picture what good governance could have put in your pocket if privatisations had been carried out with you in mind rather than with Panamanian companies in waiting!