How great is our leader Alfred Sant, wrote Leo Brincat in his weekly column (TMID, 29 January). His stay at Mater Dei facility and his convalescence at home “helped him rediscover something that has always been there – his inner strength and resolve that has always been fundamental to his decision to fight on and on and continue pushing “his innovative agenda further”!

I thought the former finance minister and opposition spokesman for foreign affairs and IT was going to explain to us voters how are Dr Sant’s “innovative agendas” going to affect us. But instead, we read the same smokescreen pseudo arguments of how indecisive Gonzi and Saliba are.

What are Dr Sant’s “innovative agendas”? These are the “spontaneous” ideas which are banded about, first in public in reaction, for example, to the budget measures; then they are endorsed rather begrudgingly by his two deputy leaders and then are approved by show of hands or acclamation at the MLP general conference. Later when taxpayers start asking what exactly do they mean, you will hear a 101 different versions from the candidates in the house to house visits, and a ‘corrected’ version from Notary Mangion given to the business community.

Let’s take for example the 50 per cent rebate on the fuel surcharge. Who is going to benefit from this bonanza? How are the hotels and the manufacturing industry and the financial institutions going to be affected by this “innovative” measure? If one owns an air-conditioned villa with a heated pool, is he going to pay at the same rates, like the young working couple with a kid living in a mortgaged flat?

With this measure is the MLP adhering to the PES declaration on Energy and Climate Change, which states “European energy policy must commit itself to raising the share of renewable and bio-energies, making traditional sources of energies as clean as possible, increasing energy efficiency and savings. The public and business should engage themselves in a new alliance for green growth.”

Would it still be economically viable for a hotel to operate a water purification plant or a reverse osmosis plant? How is this measure going to be calculated? Can Mr Brincat give us some examples, say, when the price of oil is $80, $100 or when it would be at $150, and how much the exchequer is going to fork out for this bright move? How much are incentives on solar water heaters and energy efficient white goods going to be increased so that they remain viable?

Another one of Dr Sant’s “innovative” proposals which I would like Mr Brincat to explain to us is “the no tax on overtime” promise. Undeniably, sales people who are paid a minimum wage and a commission don’t take this as good news. People who are sent on work abroad and remunerated for this hardship would not like this proposal, nor will those workers who are paid a production bonus.

Will employers employ fewer workers? Will workers who are not paid overtime change their working conditions to benefit from this promise? In what ways will the self-employed people benefit from this concession? I am sure they work overtime too. Will the future AD/MLP government get less NI contributions because of this bright idea? Does Mr Brincat concur to what Notary Charles Mangion said in The Economic Update: “I should suggest that employees, since there is no tax on overtime earnings, would be paid normal rates and not time and a half.” I hope Mr Brincat would not give us the same answer he used to give to the baffled crowd of cheated businessmen in front of him. “Dr Patrick Spiteri will answer you on these (CET) questions”

People don’t care much about electoral tactics, they are more interested of how these “bright ideas” are going to affect them and their country.

John Schembri

Zurrieq