While the adage that a week in politics might prove to be too long will continue to hold good, particularly during the remaining weeks of what is bound to be a long and tortuous election campaign, it is worth reflecting on what stood out most during the very first week of the official campaign itself.
What struck me most were the following aspects:
While many feared that the PL would come up with a nebulous and wishy- washy set of proposals on its energy policy, as confirmed by various constituted bodies and members from civil society including stalwarts in the E-NGO sector, Labour deserved and won credit for coming up with a comprehensive energy policy that even according to independent editorialists was professionally prepared and set out by way of a detailed exposition.
The launch of the GonziPN 2013 electoral manifesto turned out to be a real damp squib not only in terms of content but also by way of the impact or lack of it that it had on the electorate. To come up with the excuse that the specific electoral programme was still a work in progress and will not be unveiled yet showed the same poor level of preparedness that the hollow reiterating of its ‘ideological set of principles’ betrayed. If as referred to by the GonziPN General Secretary this was the PN’s identity card then boy, the guys are really in a rut – suffering from a bad bout of identity crisis.
The lack of co-ordination between key ministries in reacting to the PL energy policy and proposals. Not only did we have a political appointee such as the MRRA Permanent Secretary who has always rightly or wrongly been perceived as an extended political arm of the Minister concerned, but he admitted more than once on TV – where one of his primary tasks seemed to be to rubbish the PL proposals (on Xarabank, TVAM and Dissett) that he could only speak for his own set of documents and studies on the subject – regardless of any other studies that the Ministry of Finance might have conducted.
We had state broadcasting reaching a nadir where the incestuous relationship between such private companies as WE and PBS itself became almost indistinguishable, so much so that we even had a particular front man long known for his anti-PL bias failing to realize or admit the obvious. That if we have been asked to answer 100 times – KEMM, META U KIF we shall reduce our utility rates, there was no valid reason why he should feign injury for my asserting my right to answer the old hoary question when he conveniently chose not to ask it anew.
We had fear mongering at its worst, by relying on the kind of alarmism that tried to hide the hubris and state of panic that is presently holding the GonziPN key strategists in its clutches
We had the PL successfully convincing people so much that its proposals were both credible and doable, that the PM himself felt compelled to officially go on record admitting in Berlin and subsequently in Malta too that his government was committed to reducing electricity rates to the lowest sustainable level – a sharp contrast with the statements made ages ago when he had boasted that he would vote for the high utility rates with a passion and a deep sense of commitment in the House itself.
We had the usual suspects and government apologists – bloggers and columnists alike, rubbishing all those who chose to sound convinced by the professionalism of the PL proposals, on a purely personal basis rather than on points of technicality in the hope of gagging any others who might be seriously considering endorsing PL policies on this sensitive subject as well as on other aspects of the PL manifesto.
GonziPN must not only have felt irked that former eminent PN Ministers declared that rather than a gimmick, the PL’s proposals were doable and realistic, but possibly even more so that various eminent technical and environmental experts pointed out on their own initiative that the gas pipeline to Sicily was the most viable government option, with Tonio Fenech seeming to be unaware that his colleague George Pullicino’s ministry described the LNG terminal as the favoured option in a study quoted after the rejection of the 2013 project.
On a personal level I found it absurd that a particular independent journalist tried to speculate about the fact that I as energy shadow minister was apparently left out of the loop on the energy plan and not even invited to attend the PL presentation.
Wrong on various counts:
Just because I often write on energy-environment related issues does in no way make me the Energy Shadow Minister – something I never hinted at or even dared lay claim to.
My brief apart from the environment, sustainable development, climate change and solid waste management strategy is linked to alternative energy strategies
None of the shadow ministers concerned were present for the presentation since Konrad Mizzi’s excellent presentation was not done in his capacity as a PL candidate but rather on a purely technical level. Something that won the admiration of many people that I know of – way beyond the political realm.
We should be in agreement on at least one important point.
That were it not for the PL, people would not have accepted and embraced the mere notion that utility rates can actually come down.
Even worse for GonziPN the majority of the Maltese seem to have accepted all this as a matter of fact, encouraged further by the fact that even those without any political agenda seem to have done the same.
This more than anything else, leaves GonziPN out on a limb. With its own electoral programme still on the drawing board – a strategic decision that not only betrays poor ideas but also a safety valve to try and react in their by now customary manner to the lead in ideas and proposals taken as from day one by the PL.
Not bad indeed for a political movement that until recently was being rubbished as having no political vision, ideas or proposals.
This is another reason why even at this level a week in politics can prove to be a long time.
If for the sake of argument this week GonziPN come out with any Qatari linked energy initiatives, regardless of its merits, what matters most is whether and by when and by how much, will all this be expected to reduce the utility rates in Malta.
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