I was really shocked to see practically all of Sunday’s newspapers filled with articles and comments about Marisa Micallef’s defection to the Labour ranks.

It is true that she was one of the Nationalist party’s in-crowd and chairperson of the Housing Authority for quite a number of years. In my opinion this is where the matter should have stopped. That this defection from the Nationalist ranks should have stirred such turmoil is beyond reason. Unless that is, there are those who fear that Marisa’s example might be catching.

For known reasons she left for London. She wrote some letters for a while showing disagreement with the way things were being done over here. And now it is believed she accepted to be Joseph Muscat’s personal adviser at a wage which seems to have scandalised some. I’ll only be scandalised when I learn how much – directly and indirectly – the PN’s apologists earn.

So what is the reason for this extraordinary fuss? There are sitting MPs that have made threatening noises. The log-jam has been building up for years; long before Marisa came galloping over the horizon to be given a position of trust by the Prime Minister. In fact Azzjoni Nazzjonali was formed by people who left the ranks of the two main parties after having become disenchanted by the way both seemed to be renouncing their principles in their bid to hold on to, or acquire, power. Both parties once had very clear principles and priorities, giving the electorate a choice; now they both sell the same product and the only difference lies in the packing and the marketing.

When Marisa was still lauding all that the government did, there were people like me who saw the writing on the wall and simply refused to be part of a system that was tending, in my view, towards corruption, inefficiency and rigor mortis. It was a system that had openly informed every citizen that money was no problem; should anyone now be surprised at the billions of debt the country is carrying? And by “country” I mean you, me and every taxpaying citizen who will have to make good for the debts this government has incurred, and is still proposing to increase. If the good citizens of Malta and Gozo insist on remaining in denial, then they can hardly complain.

Of course the biggest shock was how Marisa could have defected to a party whose principles are supposedly opposed to the one she left. Well, as I have said, they shouldn’t be surprised because, despite the PL’s inheritance of violence and despotism – which Alfred Sant did his best to clean up – today the stances of the two parties are not that much different any longer; that should make Marisa’s crossing far less dramatic.

For what is Labour offering to enable the elector to make an informed choice? Is Joseph going to lead the PL into Nationalist territory with few cosmetic changes here and there? Is he going to discard social democratic principles which still see the state as the main player? These principles in Europe have taken a bashing. Is he intending to revamp the PL’s programme as the GWU seems to be doing in its attempt to stop its membership haemorrhage? On the other hand, will the PN embrace more and more the principles of the Left? Will people still be left with a choice?

It is obvious that this country needs real, not cosmetic, changes if is to avoid sinking deeper into the quagmire it has so blindly been led into. What we need is new thinking, completely different signposts and revolutionary ideas that will free this country from the mindset that has dominated it for the last 30 years and not simply hand over responsibility to a new shift. Doesn’t this make Marisa’s choice rather feeble since it looks more of a jump from the frying pan into the fire?

I agree with Marisa that things are not well. I agree that our country is sick and that it needs radical surgery. But will Marisa persuade the PL to encourage commercial and entrepreneurial change? Will she advise Labour to downsize the civil service as necessary, while bringing back its lost ethical purpose of advising for the good of the country and not for the benefit of the minister and his party? Does she believe that the social benefits “xalata” should be scrapped and help goes only to those who genuinely need it? Does she think her new boss will be ready to eliminate all forms of corruption, bring in accountability, cut taxes, punish laziness, clean up the tendering process and reform the Law Courts? Above all, will she advise a party which loves centralisation to go in for less government and encourage people to go out and earn their living instead of parasitically sucking the life-blood out of hard-working and tax-paying citizens?

I doubt it. No Marisa. Labour is not the answer. Real change can only come by using new mindsets with notes written on copybooks that are unspoilt and unsoiled. Change can only come if we return to the principles and values which Marisa harboured and which she felt had been betrayed; but only if they are applied with modern strategies and a fresh vision.

Yes Malta needs a new direction but it also needs people ready to tackle the inequities this country is suffering from and, with the help and co-operation of all citizens – now apparently more than ever daring to play their part – put this nation of ours back again on the right track.

Defecting to Labour is not only shortsighted but only serves to delay the true rebirth of this land we call ours and profess to love.

Otherwise we shall remain where we are: At the bottom of the amateur league.

Dr Josie Muscat is Leader Azzjoni Nazzjonali