I have always thought that the Maltese media, no doubt with obvious intentions, tend to give too much importance to has-beens in politics of both the Left and the Right. They offer easy rides on exposure vehicles to people who no longer have any political clout but are convinced, and many around them encourage them to be so, that they are still indispensable to the nation.

This is not to say that people who have, in the recent or distant past, been influential in different spheres of our lives should be mothballed and stored away like fodder for the national archives. On the contrary, I have always believed that people with experience and proven capabilities should be consulted, given the opportunity to express their views and accorded the relevant attention they deserve. But that’s where it stops.

Has-beens who do not know or prefer to ignore where the demarcation line is, often feel entitled to rush into issues and situations as if they were still in charge of the national rudder. In contrast, you find that those who have the wisdom to retire gracefully are much less inclined to butt in and create problems for their successors.

The examples are many and varied, local and foreign. When Harold Wilson called it a day in the UK many years ago, he very rarely ventured an opinion, preferring the blessed isolation of his Scilly Isles sanctuary. He’d been active enough and been hounded enough in his colourful political career. Before dementia sadly set in, another ex-Premier of Great Britain, Margaret Thatcher, did not choose to sit on the sidelines and often lashed out at one Conservative Party leader after the other, let alone her political enemies. The media used to have a field day seeking her out for another good weekly bash, which she did with much gusto rather than just sitting pretty or loyally offering support to her ideological successors.

One should also not interpret this as some sort of anti has-beens piece, denying anyone with a past to have an opinion on things. I am a has-been myself where broadcast management is concerned, but I still write a weekly radio and TV criticism page in a national Maltese language newspaper. There is, however, a thin dividing line that has-beens, politicians in particular, have to make sure they do not cross. It is when they think that they are still somehow representative of the people, with a magic wand in hand and even have some divine right to dictate to others who actually hold the reins of power in a country, party, organisation or whatever.

As in everywhere else, Maltese has-beens come in the same two categories. Some just fade away to enjoy their grandchildren, only willing to provide good advice to whoever asks for it, while others seem to bitterly regret the passage of time and, with it, the loss of their past glory. It is on the latter that media hacks descend with zest for a regular supply of good sound bites and juicy headlines.

The harsh details of what went on during the Alfred Sant Labour Administration of 1996-98 are still fresh in the memory of many. Indeed, one may argue with hindsight that it could all have been handled better, but the fact remains that a has-been, Dom Mintoff, had upset the applecart when there really was enough experience there to settle the issue mutually for the rest of human civilisation.

Now we have former Prime Minister and President Eddie Fenech Adami doing practically the same thing from a safer distance. Again, one may rightly ask: isn’t he entitled to his opinions on divorce and the current Libyan crisis? Of course he is, as was Mintoff. But there is a gap of Grand Canyon proportions separating the right to give, when asked or not, an opinion and the right to make comments that are bound to disrupt or complicate current matters and issues.

I found Dr Fenech Adami’s criticism of Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s actions in connection with the divorce referendum motion as not only unsavoury but also extremely contradictory. His bone of contention was that the Nationalist MP had put forward a Private Members’ Bill “behind everyone’s back, including his own party and its leader”.

He said so during the same interview in which he quite plainly took – but denied taking – an anti-government stance with regard to the civil war situation in Libya, insisting that if allied forces need to use Malta to carry out military action against Libya “we should accept”. This is, of course, in obvious contrast to Prime Minister Gonzi’s strong position, supported by the Opposition, against the use of Malta as a military base and in accordance with the principle of our constitutional neutrality.

In all fairness, during that same interview, another so-called has-been, former minister and President Ugo Mifsud Bonnici, was reported to have said that in 1987 he had reluctantly agreed to Malta’s non-alignment clauses, but now accepted that it would be good for Malta to do all it could to stay out of wars, “because our country has seen too much wars”. Hear hear, and so say all of us, except for Dr Fenech Adami it seems.

Dr Ugo’s cousin, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, himself an ex-Prime Minister and actual leader of CNI, has at least a national movement to speak for.

I dare say that when has-beens cross what for many is a decent line of demarcation they are only in cahoots with themselves. Their huge wealth of experience is a precious gift we should never fail to tap when required, as much as they would no doubt be willing to let others that came after them to partake of it. But let the real leaders of today, those elected to power, decide and guide the nation into pastures new – such as a much-needed divorce law – they would certainly not have even considered in their time.