Opposition leader Adrian Delia appears to have laid down the gauntlet to those dissenting members of his parliamentary group who are quite clearly refusing to come on board the ‘New Way’ he is seeking to forge for the party.

Delia took to the party television station at prime time to deliver what was clearly one single message that was clearly aimed not at the nation but, rather, at the MPs who have not yet hopped aboard the Delia bandwagon: ‘the time has come for those who do not want to work for the party to make a decision’.

Now we would not know what goes on behind the closed doors of PN parliamentary group meetings, but the issue surely must have been raised already, possibly on a number of occasions, and the cooperation Delia may have sought was refused.

Otherwise, why go public, extremely public as he did in a televised appearance, the way he did? Why air that dirty laundry if not to pressure those dissenters into coming on board the Delia bandwagon?

Arguments that the opposition is split having been evidenced by the fact that a number of Delia’s MPs voted contrary to him when it came to the new domestic violence law are redundant.  Far better to have a political party containing different ethical beliefs, than to have a party ruled by a leader’s iron fist in which dissent  is not tolerated.

Having said that, the writing is very clearly on the wall that the party has suffered a fracture that may threaten to turn into a fully fledged break, unless Delia can manage to put water under the bridge and find strength in having opposition within the Opposition.

But in the meantime, despite the best efforts on all sides of the Opposition equation, the healing has not quite worked yet.

Before his election to the party’s helm last September, there had been talk of the party fracturing in the wake of what was a bitter election campaign.  And Delia obviously recognises that an Opposition faces a government of the strength of the current one needs to be united of it is to stand any chance at all at any electoral poll.

Should this not happen, it would be a great pity for not only the party but also for the country itself.  The Opposition has a vital constitutional role to play and it must be able to fulfil that role to the best of its ability. 

It needs to keep the government in check, it needs to work with the government in a rational way on the policies with which it agrees and it must be ready at all times to present a strong, united front against the policies that it disagrees with.

This role is essential even more so in the current day and age the country is living in, in which the authorities fail to prosecute or even investigate the documented multiple misdeeds perpetrated by members of the government, in which the government has castrated the institutions that are meant to protect citizens rights and uphold the laws of the land, and in which the authorities ignore basic democratic principles left right and centre.