Individuals have incredible power within them to challenge existing power stronghold and alter the way things are done. In a few weeks’ time this country will face a crucial test on whether it wants to move ahead as a modern democratic nation, or succumb to the fatalistic attitude that is based on the belief that, however much we complain about the way the country is being managed, we have no real option but to maintain the status quo.
For the past 20 years we have had a government that has betrayed the trust of the people who elected it time after time. This government believes that it can continue to take the people’s trust for granted, because they believe that people can be bribed with promises of future prosperity, or made impotent by convincing them that the devil they know is better than the one they don’t.
But hard working families have had enough of this patronising treatment. They have the courage to change the way this country is run because this affects their future. They resent the indolence of this government, which seems not to care much about the effect its decisions is having on ordinary people who just want to get on with the business of earning a decent living.
The increasing cost of living is a serious threat to the soundness of the social fabric that has always made this country unique in the way that it has treated all the different members of its society fairly and equally. Even middle class families, who up to some years ago could afford a decent living without overstretching themselves, now have to struggle to cope with the necessities of life.
The ever increasing cost of caring for young children, the cost of providing the essential requirements that any modern family needs to live decently in this 21st century, the cost of medical care and medicine, have become formidable challenges for most families in today’s Malta. The Gonzi administrations sheds crocodile’s tears when it is made aware of this phenomenon, but then writes of the problem by saying it can do little, attributing all ills to imported inflation.
The Labour Party wants to reverse this fatalistic attitude. We are not a party of prima donnas, but a team where each one of us is prepared to take on different roles according to what our country needs and dictates to us. The years spent serving the people on the Opposition benches have brought us closer to the people. We have learnt from past mistakes, we have acknowledged what the electorate has told us about its aspirations, and we have become stronger and more determined to bring about the change that our families yearn for.
As the Swiss philosopher Henri Amiel once said, “All appears to change when we change”. We have faith in every individual’s ability to influence his or her own destiny. We want people not to give up on their aspirations for a better future because in a democratic system the individual is sovereign. We believe that people have a real choice and those politicians who demoralise us by making us believe otherwise deserve to be given a lesson and sent to take their place on the Opposition benches.
The Labour team is ready to take on the responsibility of managing this country. Despite the differences in temperament, character, and style of communication, we have a common desire that unites us.
We want to serve our families so that they can look once again to the future with optimism.
We want to make life less difficult for the thousands of families who today feel threatened by the ever-increasing pressures that endanger their ability to provide for themselves.
We will use the mandate given to us by the electorate to bring about change because we have the courage to admit that certain aspects of our daily life as a nation are not functioning well.
We will consolidate what is working well, but will not shy away from changing what is malfunctioning because this is what the majority of Maltese are clamouring for. So, I appeal to all of you to have the courage to change the way this country is being managed by using your democratic rights in a way that will bring about this change.
On behalf of Deputy Leader Dr Michael Falzon and the Labour Party administration, I take this occasion to wish our leader Dr Alfred Sant a speedy recovery so that he can return to lead the party as soon as possible.
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www.mangioncharles.com
Dr Mangion is deputy leader of the Opposition.