Our sister daily edition recently carried an editorial asking the very pertinent question: ‘Where is the Opposition?’ And yesterday we got the answer after the Opposition leader took us to task over a story earlier this week that showed that he, in his previous incarnation, was tenuously linked, by several degrees of separation, to a company that handled a bond issue for the former lead partner of the Delimara power station – one of the most contentious projects the country has seen.
The answer we got yesterday was not driven by that remote connection, the technicalities of which can be easily explained and which lay in the country’s trust and fiduciary system, but, rather, by the suggestion that the Opposition leader was unable to speak out about the dubious Delimara deal.
It wasn’t the suggestion that a firm he had been involved with had legitimately held a share in trust in a company that worked with Gasol that he took the most exception to but, rather, it was the suggestion that he had been silenced as a result, which he took as a mortal insult.
And in so doing, he has showed some of his mettle. That in itself is encouraging.
Having a strong Opposition is, after all, one of the main underpinnings of having a strong democracy. Not only is a strong Opposition able to challenge the government and keep it in check, but it also collaborates with the government and provides essential input on the drafting of new laws and policies.
This role is essential, and it is even more so in the current day and age, in which the authorities have failed to prosecute or even investigate the documented multiple misdeeds perpetrated by the government and some of its members.
The government has castrated the institutions that are meant to protect citizens’ rights and uphold the laws of the land, as the authorities have ignored basic democratic principles left right and centre.
Indeed, it would be a real tragedy if the Opposition, in the face of all this, were to also be castrated.
That, however, does not appear to be the case given the combative spirit the Opposition leader shows in today’s interview. In that interview, Delia insists he is not for sale at any price and even states that he is open to anybody bringing any proof suggesting that he has ‘ever done anything remotely illegal, immoral or however you want to define it’.
That is one sweeping statement this newspaper will certainly hold him to in the future.
And to prove he is not beholden to any Delimara power station partner, he also takes the project to task, insisting that the country does not need the project, saying that: “If the deal was only made to fleece us of public funds, then it is wrong. I will not shy away from saying that about the Electrogas deal.”
And he says he has not spoken about the project in such terms as he does in today’s interview simply because it has not been as prominent on the national radar since he took the party’s stewardship as other issues, such as the VGH swindle.
He speaks about a fight he waged against corruption in football when he served as president of a local club saying: ‘I stood alone, against everybody for five years, and that is why this article hurt me so badly because it suggested everything that I am not, and I am not afraid. It is the thing that defines my whole life, I was never afraid.’
And this is what, he insists, he will bring to the political field. When this is the case, rest assured that we will stand foursquare behind him, or anyone else for that matter that fights the good fight for good governance after we have seen the national interest thrown out the window time and time again in favour of politicians’ personal interests and political parties’ partisan interests.
Here is the Opposition, Dr Delia, insists, that is ready to fight the corner of good governance tooth and nail.
Dr Delia, we will hold you to your word.