Labour leader Alfred Sant has just launched a massive 648-page publication which is described as “A blueprint for a New Start” (Pjan ghal Bidu Gdid). It is a collection of policy documents drawn up and developed during a wide-ranging process of consultation with civil society.

Suffice it to say that some 300 constituted bodies and entities were involved in more than 2,000 hours of discussions with party officials.

Originally drafted by the party, the documents were modified in line with suggestions, comments and observations advanced during the consultation process.

Dr Sant made it clear that the blueprint is not an election manifesto. It provides a political and economic reference point by which the MLP will navigate in drawing up its manifesto.

The documents come under four headings, namely (a) Malta and the EU; (b) social issues ranging from family policy to provisions for the elderly, from sports and culture to environment policy; (c) economic planning issues, extending from the productive sectors to the public sector, from the self-employed to cooperatives; and (d) a plan for Gozo as a region.

Innovative initiative

The meat is in the reading. But Labour’s plan is perhaps more newsworthy for what it represents than its contents which, after all, have emerged in snippets during the past few years as the consultation process gathered momentum.

From a political and social point of view, the blueprint is significant because it has been drawn up with the cooperation and collaboration of civil society. The consultation process was transparent. Barriers were removed, and bridges were built linking the party with constituted bodies, some of whom traditionally kept aloof from politics.

It was an innovative initiative and a sharp departure from the old way of doing things. For the first time, it involved civil society at the incubation stage of politics – and not exclusively at election time. As such, a new segment of the electorate began to consider the exercise as a breath of fresh air.

When Dr Sant published his party “plan”, the electorate realised something else: namely that there was no substance in the charge that Labour’s mission is to oppose blindly for opposition’s sake. It has been doing its homework as an alternative government, and has something to show for it.

Available evidence, accumulated in the course of all the five electoral consultations held since the last general election, seems to suggest that the electoral winds are shifting.

And this has been confirmed by many an opinion poll.

This does not mean that the government is down and out; however lack-lustre has been its more recent performance. By spending more and borrowing more, it could still, conceivably, conjure a feel-good feeling and survive.

Decisive issue

Deep down, the decisive issue, come the general election, is not about party partisanship. It is about Malta’s ability to compete and survive in a globalised world. It is about efficiency and frugality, about clean government capable of stamping out corruption.

This, more than anything else, would make Labour’s blueprint credible with the electorate and Dr Sant sensed this when he launched it last Monday.

He declared that Labour’s strategy for change hinges on the need to enhance the performance of the government machine, thereby achieving economic and social progress.

He did not mince his words. “Inefficiency, indiscipline, a lack of proper training, administrative bungling, the proliferation of quangos, uncontrolled spread of excessive bureaucracy, discrimination, unbridled politicisation, corruption – these are among the problems sapping the strength of our public administration,” he affirmed.

He was specific in prescribing his party’s formula to solve Malta’s basic, indeed, fundamental problem.

“Transparency, accountability and efficiency will be the three principles guiding our resolve to enhance the performance of the administration. These targets are indispensable if we really want to achieve progress,” he declared.

This aspect of Dr Sant’s speech is probably far more important than the voluminous text of Labour’s “plan”. It calls for elaboration when the electoral manifesto comes to be published.

The electorate is increasingly conscious of the malaise and of the sickening odour of corruption.

It hungers and thirsts for a clean environment, free from graft and clientelism. It craves for justice and for a system of government that dispenses more incentives and fewer burdens.

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