Recently the Nationalist Party dedicated ample time to a number of commemorations

Of course they are trying to exploit these events and even today take advantage of what happened 25 years ago and even before. It must be said that those events were not pleasant at all and God forbid that our country lives through similar tragic moments once again. However, one cannot be selective of what happened in the past. One and all have lessons to learn and everyone is responsible for what happened. Therefore both parties should be ashamed and every political party is responsible for those actions, including the PN.

In a few days’ time the country commemorates the killing of Karen Grech. By choice the PN does not even mention this event, like it does with the others. There are a number of things that one can say about those times. For sure the PN is not immune, pure and without any guilt. What happened during those times when Labour was in government should also be attributed to the Nationalist Party.

The PN are not and should not be exonerated from guilt. Many years ago one of their prominent politicians said that he knew who was responsible for certain events and as soon as he will be in power justice will be made. More than 25 years passed and until today no one was brought to justice. I wonder why and I would be delighted if these persons are brought before the Law Courts. Or maybe it is not in the interest of the PN for such thing to happen? Who knows? Right now only God knows.

But instead of looking back I prefer to look ahead because families are more concerned about the present and the future. By this I do not want to minimise the past. Of course we should learn from history. The PN should also stop (although this will not happen) rewriting and reinventing history according to their needs. But as I said I am more interested in today’s and tomorrow’s needs and I am sure that the Maltese families have the same interest.

Parliament just stopped for the Christmas holidays after debating the budget estimates and those of a number of authorities and corporations. I must admit that I do not like the way all this happened in Parliament and I do not like the way votes are being taken either. We debated corporations and authorities when the financial year is still not over and when the yearly reports for the same reason were not tabled in Parliament for these to be debated.

Also, I do not like it that when a ministry is debated it is not being voted there and then but we have to wait a number of sittings and take all the votes at one go. For this reason, but not only, Parliament has become very annoying. Unless all those concerned do something the situation will not change. It is not a question of building a new parliament, because if the same happens there, no change would have taken place. It is like what happened with the new hospital where the building is nice but old problems were transferred to a new and well-equipped building. So it takes more than having a new building.

His Excellency the President, during his speech on Republic Day, mentioned the need for some amendments to be made to the Constitution. He also suggested how this could be done. I feel that the current political atmosphere, which led to my resignation from Deputy Speaker, is not conducive to such changes. Therefore the SOS sent by His Excellency to save our democracy still has to wait.

I believe that although there is still no clue as to when the Prime Minister will call the general elections, from the tone of the speeches and debates one can conclude that the electoral campaign has already started. It might be a very long one too but most importantly it will prevent change from happening. For now, the constitution and rules of the game, including Parliament, will remain unchanged.

We can say that we will continue to have a stagnant democracy. We will continue to have a situation where both political parties will continue to argue with each other but the status quo will prevail. What I really hope for this country is that the status quo will not continue since I firmly believe that the Nationalist Party deserves to go in Opposition after too much time in power. As they say, power corrupts and this is the state of affairs at present.

However I do not want to conclude this opinion on a political note. I wish the editor, staff and readers of The Malta Independent and of course all the Maltese people a very Happy Christmas and wish all the best for the coming New Year 2012.

Carmelo Abela is Labour Main Spokesperson for Social Policy

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