“I am the State.”A famous quote by Louis XIV. He said it to the Paris Parliament in April 1755. Of course, I will not go through the whole story but at present, we are experiencing a similar situation with the person that is ruling the country – GonziPN.

In his every speech, and recently we are having a lot of them, self-praise of the supposed achievements of the GonziPN clan are always at the top of his agenda. He is also trying to make us believe that Malta cannot exist without him and his clique since they are the best and only they have the qualities to rule this country. Basically, he wants to make us believe that he is the state.

Apart from self-praise, GonziPN embarked on a campaign to try and discredit Joseph Muscat and the Labour Party. They are doing this on the basis of what Labour governments did and achieved in the past. A lot of distortion and twisting is taking place in all this but it does not matter for GonziPN since for them, politics is a game and they do whatever it takes to retain power since they have a lot to lose if they do not.

So the campaign for the coming election is crystal clear; self-praise and discrediting the other main political party. But I ask: What about the policies and political programmes that GonziPN intend to carry out after the election if this clan is once again trusted? We hear nothing. They also have the audacity to criticise the Labour Party for this when they are doing worse since the Partit Laburista is giving one proposal after the other. Not only, but they are in government and we citizens do not know what their policies on a number of issues are today.

This is not to mention that a number of promises, which managed to convince voters before the 2008 general election, are still not implemented and will not be according to what GonziPN stated recently. Deceiving the country and its people is the order of the day for this clique, but of course, retaining power is a priority for them. With every passing day, it is becoming clear that GonziPN is not interested in governing this country. It is only interested in ruling it. “I am the state,” is what the GonziPN clan believes. This country, under this clan and clique in government, is moving from a democracy to a dictatorship.

I say so because it cannot be that it is “business as usual” as GonziPN is saying, when an MP resigned from the party in government, meaning in this case, that the party in government lost its one-seat majority. GonziPN was lucky enough that Parliament was and still is in summer recess. Also, another member of parliament belonging to the same group is adamantly criticising this government day and night and for the Prime Minister, it is business as usual. Again, GonziPN is lucky that Parliament reconvenes on 1 October.

But for GonziPN, this is not important. Imagine a situation where this state of affairs was happening with the Labour Party in government. Oh my God! We would most likely have protests every day and it would be the talk of town. But then, the same GonziPN went to speak to his fellow conservatives abroad about values at the same time that the basic value of democracy is being ignored for the simple reason that it is not tested because Parliament is still on holiday. A serious Prime Minister who truly holds democracy close to heart would have convened parliament and asked for a vote of confidence in his government.

But, of course, preaching democracy is one thing and putting it into practice is another. GonziPN also pretends to give lessons to others.

Now there are some who are proposing to have fixed-term election dates in Malta. One of the reasons for this, according to the proposers, is to avoid the current political impasse. Amendments to the constitution are not done, proposed or discussed in an election campaign or because of who is in government. Also, these amendments should not be discussed lightly, but in a serious manner, by placing everything under scrutiny.

Even though officially, the electoral campaign has not yet begun, we are already in election mode and GonziPN is now trying to make amends for the time lost in these last years. This is also bad since the legislation proposals being forwarded now – and also other proposals that are being moved forward by this clique in power – are half baked and need to be further analysed or more thorough.

But since GonziPN pretends and believes that he is the state and that the state belongs to him, he wants to do whatever he wants. The funny thing is that by doing so, this clan is not serving the country, but the interest of a clique, that according to a Nationalist MP, is ruling the country. Malta needs to be saved from these dangerous acts and from those who pretend to have a safe pair of hands while using them for the benefit of the very few and not of the majority.

Carmelo Abela is Labour Main Spokesperson for Social Policy

[email protected]

“I am the State.”A famous quote by Louis XIV. He said it to the Paris Parliament in April 1755. Of course, I will not go through the whole story but at present, we are experiencing a similar situation with the person that is ruling the country – GonziPN.

In his every speech, and recently we are having a lot of them, self-praise of the supposed achievements of the GonziPN clan are always at the top of his agenda. He is also trying to make us believe that Malta cannot exist without him and his clique since they are the best and only they have the qualities to rule this country. Basically, he wants to make us believe that he is the state.

Apart from self-praise, GonziPN embarked on a campaign to try and discredit Joseph Muscat and the Labour Party. They are doing this on the basis of what Labour governments did and achieved in the past. A lot of distortion and twisting is taking place in all this but it does not matter for GonziPN since for them, politics is a game and they do whatever it takes to retain power since they have a lot to lose if they do not.

So the campaign for the coming election is crystal clear; self-praise and discrediting the other main political party. But I ask: What about the policies and political programmes that GonziPN intend to carry out after the election if this clan is once again trusted? We hear nothing. They also have the audacity to criticise the Labour Party for this when they are doing worse since the Partit Laburista is giving one proposal after the other. Not only, but they are in government and we citizens do not know what their policies on a number of issues are today.

This is not to mention that a number of promises, which managed to convince voters before the 2008 general election, are still not implemented and will not be according to what GonziPN stated recently. Deceiving the country and its people is the order of the day for this clique, but of course, retaining power is a priority for them. With every passing day, it is becoming clear that GonziPN is not interested in governing this country. It is only interested in ruling it. “I am the state,” is what the GonziPN clan believes. This country, under this clan and clique in government, is moving from a democracy to a dictatorship.

I say so because it cannot be that it is “business as usual” as GonziPN is saying, when an MP resigned from the party in government, meaning in this case, that the party in government lost its one-seat majority. GonziPN was lucky enough that Parliament was and still is in summer recess. Also, another member of parliament belonging to the same group is adamantly criticising this government day and night and for the Prime Minister, it is business as usual. Again, GonziPN is lucky that Parliament reconvenes on 1 October.

But for GonziPN, this is not important. Imagine a situation where this state of affairs was happening with the Labour Party in government. Oh my God! We would most likely have protests every day and it would be the talk of town. But then, the same GonziPN went to speak to his fellow conservatives abroad about values at the same time that the basic value of democracy is being ignored for the simple reason that it is not tested because Parliament is still on holiday. A serious Prime Minister who truly holds democracy close to heart would have convened parliament and asked for a vote of confidence in his government.

But, of course, preaching democracy is one thing and putting it into practice is another. GonziPN also pretends to give lessons to others.

Now there are some who are proposing to have fixed-term election dates in Malta. One of the reasons for this, according to the proposers, is to avoid the current political impasse. Amendments to the constitution are not done, proposed or discussed in an election campaign or because of who is in government. Also, these amendments should not be discussed lightly, but in a serious manner, by placing everything under scrutiny.

Even though officially, the electoral campaign has not yet begun, we are already in election mode and GonziPN is now trying to make amends for the time lost in these last years. This is also bad since the legislation proposals being forwarded now – and also other proposals that are being moved forward by this clique in power – are half baked and need to be further analysed or more thorough.

But since GonziPN pretends and believes that he is the state and that the state belongs to him, he wants to do whatever he wants. The funny thing is that by doing so, this clan is not serving the country, but the interest of a clique, that according to a Nationalist MP, is ruling the country. Malta needs to be saved from these dangerous acts and from those who pretend to have a safe pair of hands while using them for the benefit of the very few and not of the majority.

Carmelo Abela is Labour Main Spokesperson for Social Policy

[email protected]