There were times in these past years where people told us they will not vote in the next election. This is a democratic right one may wish to exercise.
Doing my regular rounds in the ninth and 10th electoral districts, this phrase is not longer said so regularly. This is more so especially after the budget, and the various serious projections and plans that the Gonzi administration has embarked on.
People are moving away from the no-vote mentality also because of the circumstances within the opposing party and its allies, the General Workers’ Union. A no-vote to the Nationalist Party will, by default, give a majority of votes cast to the Labour Party.
The non-voter would start complaining the next day. The right of non-voting has its repercussions. We have seen this at work, year in year out, in local council elections. The next general election is for real. It decides our country’s future, our children’s destiny, and the rubbing off of all progress done.
The Labour Party would get elected. Imagine, now, the state of confusion one will have to bear with. We will have an administration doing its utmost to oust any moderates from the party or allies; an administration which does not respond to its own leaders of the community; and speeches done up with such unfortunate low examples that would make me shudder to think that our prime minister could talk in the same way to his foreign counterparts.
The “hbieb tal-hbieb” (friends of friends) theory, painfully spun over the years, was shattered by the Dubai trip. Resignations will come forward and stability, once again, will be jeopardised.
Some would say it’s a pity that Labour is stuck in the mud like this. It’s unhealthy for a country to have no alternative. This is all true. What the Nationalist government is striving to do – and achieving – is to renovate from within, go for new ideas and projects, get cracking on incentives for investments and jobs.
Getting no fewer than Lm1 million new foreign investment daily is no mean feat, and this is the goodwill that has no price. Goodwill that foreign investors appreciate and pushes them to invest in Malta.
Otherwise we are back to the old days, of waking up in the morning, waiting for what is coming next. Probably these so-called vision statements are purposely done by the Labour Party to tie their leaders’ hands in the future. To ensure that no more u-turns are done – probably we have had our fill of u-turns anyway – and that a certain decent policy will be kept. I doubt very much that such things do exist in the Labour Party.
Even in the budget debates when opposition benches should give alternatives, it was a pathetic show of useless words. Yes, a real pity.
On the other hand you have a Nationalist government, who strives to be more and more efficient, close to the people, hearing their laments, and getting on with the job to arrange them. Had it not been for the price of oil, our economy would have been better off, and more money would have been left in everyone’s pocket, ie, less taxes all round. This oil business will hopefully stabilise itself; and maybe the price of oil will go down and let us live and plan without any hiccups.
The EU funding over the next years has increased by 50 million euros, not out of negotiations, but due to year-on-year adjustments. These monies will be well spent, starting from next year until 2013. All this is being done by the government, riding even on the opposition’s efforts to thwart such improvements.
I just hope that Labour will not mess up SmartCity and the thousands of projected jobs. Many youngsters are working for this, and the government is offering them incentives. Only a Nationalist government will guarantee these jobs and their future.
So, the non-voter has a responsibility. Maybe more than the traditional voter. Keeping this government in place is fundamental to Malta, its future, your children’s future. It is not perfect, but it is certainly far ahead than its rival party.
Let’s all vote with our heads and minds.
Robert Arrigo is a Nationalist MP