As the hours in this short election campaign go by as Saturday 8th approaches, panic attacks are manifest in the hysterical attacks on the Labour Party and are becoming more intense and frequent. The branding of gonzipn is another attempt to project an image of regeneration and away from the image of the old PN of Gorg Borg Olivier, Dwardu Fenech Adami, Louis Galea, Ninu Zammit, Jesmond Mugliett, George Pullicino, Censu Galea, Austin Gatt, Tonio Borg, Giovanna, et al.

No man in any political party should be greater than the party itself, but now we have a superman who is not only greater than the party itself, but is all the party. Gonzipn implicates that we not only have a one-man party, but that he is the body and soul of the gonzipn party.

This modern branding of gonzipn is intended to obliterate the recent past of a once glorious PN! An abracadabra with the magic wand and our electorate will forget about the PN’s past and think in terms of the ‘new’ gonzipn. The present exigencies dictate the promotion of an image to the electorate that is virgin, consequently waiving away the entire mortal and venial sins committed throughout the past score of years.

Moreover, this is the first true electoral test for Lawrence Gonzi as party leader. Worth remembering that he was sworn in as Prime Minister under his own steam but as a result of Fenech Adami’s resignation in 2004.

Scaremongering

The prelude of this electoral campaign was characterized by an attempt to discredit particular beneficial proposals by the Labour Party that evidently gained instant popular support. These Tantrums shown so far by the gonzipn undoubtedly spell the state of panic of those on board the titanic that will soon be resting in the abysmal depths of the ocean floor!

Proposals like the waiving off income tax on overtime and to cut by 50per cent the surcharge on water and electricity bills seem to be the most ferociously slaughtered. Contradicting their own electoral motto that “together everything is possible,” they somehow want to make us believe that their proposals are financially sustainable and that our proposals are “not possible” and would create financial havoc!!

It is worth mentioning that Labour’s proposals are the result of direct consultation, of public debate with the general public, stakeholders and all national organisations. Moreover, these proposals have been discussed and approved by party delegates throughout the various general conferences held over the past years. Some of these proposals have been well known as early as 2006.

Paradoxically, all these proposals, resulting from wide public consultation and input by all stakeholders are now being ridiculed and blitzed by a one-man party, gonzipn. Could it be possible that all these people are fools and gullible to put forward such void and hollow proposals and only this super one-man party, gonzipn, is right in his argumentation?

Repeaters

Another proposal that has been ridiculed was that of the introduction of a reception class as a transition between the kindergarten and the primary school. It is a real shame how this proposal was ridiculed and shot down by those who should know better on the subject.

First and foremost, such a proposal should have never surfaced as a crucial issue during an election campaign. Instead of putting forward solid pedagogical objections, they labelled this reception class as a repeater class and kept on hammering it as if our people are gullible enough not to distinguish between cheap propaganda and solid arguments!

It is really shameful to hear the guiding light of this gonzipn leading a campaign of scaremongering and arguing that if our people want their children to repeat a class they should vote Labour. Dear Prime Minister, the people are going to vote Labour simply because they are more than fed up with the endless list of hollow promises, arrogance, corruption and definitely because we are committed to lead a better style of governance.

Beyond a shadow of a doubt, not even one single minute in school is wasted time! Schools offer a unique experience to all children not only to learn academic subjects and skills, but also to develop the self, to socialise and share a sense of community. Schools should serve the purpose of being a learning community.

Therefore, even if for one single moment we had to accept their main concern that this is a repeater class (which is NOT the case), every moment in a learning environment is a unique experience that contributes to enrich self-development. As already stated, the concept of a reception class is found in many other European countries and the results in this sector had paid positively and enormously.

Furthermore, one can download tonnes of material from the Internet regarding the subject and even schemes of work and activities related to this year. During this year emphasis is made on real outside experiences and children are exposed to learn through fun outside games. Mind you, all this takes place in countries where climatic conditions are not so favourable. In our country this could be a unique fantastic experience.

The gonzipn should put his mind at rest that if he decides to put education at the top of the election campaign it would give us a superb opportunity to discuss the colossal deficiencies that are in our system after 20 years of a Nationalist administration. I assume that Minister for Education Louis Galea, like myself, pays home-visits to the same households in Qormi, Siggiewi and Luqa and meets young people who, after 13 years of formal schooling, have great difficulties in finding employment as they barely have the necessary numeracy and literacy skills.

Education is not only the building of new schools, but also an entire system that sustains the teaching and learning process to reach all our different students. We should focus on providing appropriate schools for our children and not children for our schools. Even in this sector, educators are fed up and a recent media release from the MUT confirms this.

A mass rally that was planned (it has been cancelled to a more opportune time) by the MUT for all teaching grades was precisely called to show “the arising injustice with the education class. The MUT sustains that the education class is being subjected to numerous demands and ever increasing pressures notwithstanding the fact that improvement in working conditions and financial compensation have been hard to come by in all sectors.” The MUT is in “favour of investment in people apart from investment in buildings and amenities. Better education cannot be attained without direct investment in educators.”

In their greatest majority our electorate is eagerly awaiting a new beginning! Luckily enough we only have to wait for a few more days!

Mr Galdes is Labour’s spokesman on the Environment and National Heritage