Regardless of whether one may agree or disagree with the motions tabled by PL main spokespersons regarding Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici and Malta’s permanent representative to the EU Richard Cachia Caruana, it was nothing but weird to read that both were perceived by some, either as acts of moral violence or as being symptomatic of a vicious streak of vindictiveness

The same can be said for the warped thinking that criticising a minister can now even be interpreted as an attempt to harm his family.

Or else that it has now become immoral to even think of holding politicians to account.

This reminds me of the PM’s recent and far belated call for ethics in politics – only now that a family member rightly or wrongly happened to be under the media spotlight – whereas until recently the same PM always chose to turn a blind eye whenever his close associates and some of their ‘hired guns’ turned their guns on dissenting Nationalist MPs’ families; the same way that they invariably did and still do on various PL exponents as well as on people who are even completely divorced from the political arena.

Last Friday when I was addressing an interesting seminar for local mayors on the national environment policy together with my colleague Minister de Marco, one particular Nationalist mayor said that he was pleasantly surprised that both parties could converge on the fundamentals of the policy in a constructive manner.

My instinctive reaction was that I sincerely wished that the same approach and climate would prevail should there be a change in government, since there has apparently already been loose talk in some social circles by certain exponents and strategists close to the PN that if they hypothetically had to lose the forthcoming elections they would do their damn best to make Labour practically ungovernable.

If this information is correct this begs the question as to who is really lusting after power. Us or them?

But back to some of the recent weird and surreal outbursts that we all experienced in the past few days.

While patently inspired by almost schoolboy bullying tactics some of the statements beggared belief.

The Deputy PM’s statement in congress, that the PN will not be destroyed, smacked far more of a beleaguered politician than the election mode they attributed to him, particularly when it is common knowledge that regardless of whether the elections will be held in the Fall or next year, the country has long shifted from an election mode to a campaign mode; with the PM himself launching a project a day according to a long set template worked out by his campaign strategists.

Regardless of which way the votes will go on the days proper within the coming days, the statement that nothing has destroyed the PN in the past and that nothing would destroy it now, in spite of challenges – some of them internal – that kept coming, is baffling to say the least.

This is even more when any internal strife was meant to have been solved when Dr Gonzi had secured a near-unanimous vote of confidence by his party delegates.

This also coincided with this week’s surprise announcement that PN super delegate Simon Busuttil has no plans to run for the leadership top post, yet not disclaiming an interest in other would-be positions. Why he felt the need to say so when Dr Gonzi should be firmly secure in his seat, is equally strange.

I can somehow pardon the otherwise affable Deputy PM for trying to tug at the heartstrings of the party delegates and rank and file, but it takes some cheek for a moralist like PN MP Edwin Vassallo to even go to the extent of urging Dr Carm Mifsud Bonnici to hold back from resigning even if the motion is hypothetically approved.

To add insult to injury he was reported to have said that the government should merely take note of the vote but the minister should not resign as there is according to him no reason for the Opposition’s motion of censure.

Were one to disagree with the PL’s motivations one still cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, call it morally invalid.

This behaviour from someone who remained in denial even after the majority of the Maltese had expressed themselves in their absolute majority on the divorce issue by way of a referendum, somehow reminded me of the so-called moral majority held by an American political organisation which had an agenda of evangelical Christian-oriented political lobbying in the early 80s. From what I can recall it had gone against the traditional Baptist principle of separating religion and politics.

To date we still await a government denial or confirmation that Villa Francia, a prestigious government property, is being used as a nerve centre for co-coordinating the exercise of the powers of incumbency as well as the mapping-out of the campaign strategy at government level.

Last Saturday, we also saw government in denial on another key issue – environmental health.

In spite of the fact that Minister de Marco belatedly included it in the National Environment Policy document, it was saddening to note that last Saturday the think-tank Ideat organised an excellent seminar on environmental health issues and the invited ministers failed to turn up. I am referring to Ministers de Marco and Cassar; however, even the parliamentary assistants they designated to attend failed to put in an appearance, without even bothering to send in an apology.

In doing so the Nationalist government sent a simple message – that for them environmental health is of secondary importance. No wonder that a leading environmentalist and defeated PN MEP candidate recently dismissed our focus on environmental health as populist!

The government members’ absence was more than ably compensated for by some insightful contributions by eminent non-political personalities.

That included biologist Victor Axiak, medical doctor Jason Bonnici, the independent-minded and fearless journalist Caroline Muscat, as well as environmentalist Alfred Baldacchino, amongst others.

There was nothing political in the main messages conveyed; primarily, that the country badly needed a coherent approach and integrated policies on these two interlinked subjects. Calls were even made from the floor and the podium for long-term consensual planning in policies in these key and pivotal sectors.

While government continues to flog its eco-Gozo mantra to death, it was ironic to find out that whilst Maltese bathing waters fare very well indeed, the seas surrounding Gozo continue to fare worse every year.

In conclusion, please allow me to extend my appreciation to the sense of loyalty shown by my friend and colleague Adrian Vassallo – a most-popular MP with whom I never crossed swords since he was first elected, even though we contest the same district – on One TV last Saturday. He, his family and his ardent voters and followers can all testify to this, even when we might have differed on certain issues. In politics, pique and negativity are counter-productive and only damaging.