“Kite flying” is a strategy used in politics to test the people’s reaction to a particular proposal or issue: you broach a proposal, without too much commitment, and see what happens.
The use of “red herrings” is another strategy: a distraction from other issues. Like the young boy who goes home from school and starts talking about what happened on the bus, hoping his mother would forget he had a test.
Labour has become very predictable in using both strategies.
Joseph Muscat and Keith Schembri were fond of both. They would first test an issue, preferably one which would create problems for the Opposition, and then they would provoke a frenzy of opinions.
Their greatest distraction remains the Civil Union bill. Don’t get me wrong. The bill was important in itself. But the timing was all about exploiting an important issue for other motives.
With hindsight, now we know why Muscat needed a red herring. While the whole nation was lost in the debate of a legislative process which took us from September 2013 to April 2014, Muscat, Schembri and Konrad Mizzi were busy stirring “Double, double, Toil and trouble” like the witches in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
They were making sure we would not get a slight whiff of deals like the Café Premiere, Electrogas and Vitals, just to mention a few.
Nearly eight years down the line, the PN has learnt that falling into Labour traps is no good for the country, and the sooner we spot the kites and sniff the red herring, the sooner we should move on with the business of the real politics which our country dearly needs and deserves.
We all know that a kite needs opposing wind to fly high, and in recent weeks the measly attempts by Robert Abela to create any political distractions has seen his lovely kites fly low and get entangled in the only tree which Ian Borg has left standing.
A few weeks ago, Abela decided to try to make Bernard Grech and the PN uncomfortable by hinting at possible amendments to the divorce law. Abela’s plan failed miserably. He did not manage to ruffle anybody’s feathers and we are still waiting for the debate to start in parliament. Bernard Grech did not shy away from the challenge, nor did he fall into the obvious trap. Instead, his attitude towards Abela was, “Fine, let’s discuss.”
Last Thursday, the PN issued a press call for a media event for the launch of its energy plan. Within minutes, Robert Abela informed one of the local news portals that, “Cannabis reform will allow users to grow plants for personal use.”
Abela must have seen this as six kites and a shoal of red herrings at one go. Once again, the strategy failed. It was too obvious.
Sadly, Robert Abela is not the only kite flyer within his cabinet. Rosianne Cutajar has made headlines for weeks, and not for the right reasons. To distract us from questioning her close ties with the alleged mastermind of the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia, and who also happens to be the confirmed owner of the notorious company 17 Black, she has thrown everything at us, although prostitution and cannabis remain her favourite kites to date. Abela’s need to blow the wind into Cutajar’s kite tells me that he is starting to panic.
Is it possible that, following the failure by Julia Farrugia Portelli to make any inroads on these two issues, Abela thought the more transgressive, younger politician has what it takes? Clearly she does not. She simply lacks credibility. How can anybody take her seriously when she has not denied accepting money from Yorgen Fenech? She only said that she did not conduct business with him.
Back to the predictable kites and the herrings. A few weeks ago Abela threw in all the possible distractions in one speech. He went from divorce, to prostitution, cannabis and even included abortion and euthanasia. It was the day Bernard Grech gained noticeably on him in the polls.
I heard that his speech ruffled feathers — but not from the targeted PN side. He actually got in trouble with his own activists, who are not as liberal as Abela imagined them to be.
As Bernard Grech continues to make political inroads and do well in the popularity surveys, Abela will continue to dig deep into his bag of tricks. Unfortunately for him, Muscat has used up all the trump cards available for Labour. Bernard Grech may be new to politics but his mature approach to life and his professional experience makes him a much tougher adversary than Labour had predicted.
The PN has also learnt the lesson. It will not fall into the traps which have become so predictable. So while we are turning a new page, we will continue to do what is right for the good of the country.