Last Sunday saw the closure of the Labour Party conference. Though overshadowed by the final night at the Malta Song for Europe Contest the previous evening, leader Alfred Sant was back to his good old self. His antics were back. His promises were there again. His blinding attacks launched at the Prime Minister, at the Nationalist administration and at anything that is blue were evident throughout his speech. We can rest assured that he has not changed a little bit and that 10 years in opposition have been futile in this respect. The winds of change have not yet hit him.

One would have expected that he would have come up with something worthwhile hearing. Yet all we got to know is that he is all out to practically make our young students spend an extra year at kindergarten level and that not all problems would be solved immediately after he takes office – if and when he is elected to the post of Prime Minister.

This is the same person we had back in 1996. Prior to that year’s general election, he romanced the Maltese people with promises of a utopia from day one. He stooped to all levels in order to conquer. We wooed the majority of the voters at the time. And conquer he did. However, as soon as he was installed in the Prime Minister’s chambers he fell down to earth and realised the difference between one’s verbal declarations and the realities to be faced when administering the country. He could not keep his promises and the result of that eventually saw the Maltese nation return to the polls within less than two years. It’s a pity that due to incompetence, Malta lost 22 months of precious time, which meant that Malta could have been even better than in the good state it is today.

Up to a few weeks ago, Dr Sant repeatedly told the nation that he had the solutions to all the woes and problems on this island of ours and that these would be set right within six months of his being re-elected to power. Now, as that eventual day could be nearing at a fast pace, he seems to be having serious doubts. He is now stating that some matters could be addressed immediately after re-election while others would have to wait. The question that immediately comes to mind, and which obviously was never answered, is which are those problems to be addressed immediately and what would have to wait for time and time again!

Let us just hope, if the case were to happen, that the roar will not mature into a whimper.

At the rate that he has been promising heaven on earth, the people do not want to wait and see. People want to be assured, in no uncertain manner, that the writing is on the wall and that he really has the right formulae and solutions and that what he is promising do not turn out to be simple illusions. The Maltese do not want to go through what they have already experienced during his last premiership. But then Labour has been known to clamour that it knows the right passage towards the Promised Land. Facts are stronger than fiction and at the end of the day the people have the right not to be taken for another ride.

Or perhaps, rather than that, the Labour Party has been under the wrong impression. It has been repeatedly badly advised or has got it all wrong. It has been following the wrong avenues for so many times. Its policies, had they been adhered to, would have seen us become stale, outdated and stillborn. The last time round disillusion was so rampant across the country that their ex-leader, Dom Mintoff felt constrained to vote against Sant’s government because, in Mintoff’s own words, ‘this had lost all sense of direction as well as its social heart.’

Labour is the party that:

•wanted Malta to become part of a kingdom some thousands of miles away back in the 1950s;

•went against the attainment of Independence and full sovereignty back in 1964;

•was against free enterprise and the widespread introduction of IT during its 1971-1987 stay in power;

•dared to slowly eat away at rights so many take for granted, not least the suspension of our Constitutional Court until it was reinstated by the Nationalist Government elected in 1987;

•promised to take off the VAT tax regime only to introduce a higher percentage taxing system by the name of CET back in 1996-1998;

•broke all records of annual financial deficits during its 22-month stint in government between 1996 and 1998 when the deficit rose by Lm282 million (e657 million);

•was totally against Malta’s membership in the European Union;

•was against Malta’s introduction of the euro;

•was in favour of devaluating our currency – thus rendering the purchasing power of the Maltese coffers to 90 per cent of what they are today;

•and so much more...

Now that election day is fast approaching, Dr Sant will do all that it takes in order to gain the PM’s chair. However do sit down and think things over – recall that which he promised and remember what in fact he did deliver.

Do not be taken in by the empty rhetoric, which can turn out to be the hidden and untold epilogue of yet another Alfred Sant tale.

Tony Abela is Parliamentary Secretary in the Office

of the Prime Minister