Eyes on the Prime Minister

Published: September 22, 2012 at 2:26pm

Thursday, September 20, 2012
EDITORIAL – THE TIMES

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi seemed to put paid to rumours of an election in November when he said on Sunday that his Government planned to present the Budget for next year in that month.

Never mind that the approval of the financial estimates is this time bound to come up against some tricky political hurdles, the question of when the election is going to be held is now fast becoming an academic exercise for time is pressing anyway and the two main parties are already firmly locked in election mode.

It is wise on the Government’s part to go ahead with the presentation of the Budget ahead of the election and it would be foolish on the part of rebel backbenchers to try and put a stop to its approval.

It is essential for the administration to have the estimates of revenue and expenditure duly formulated and passed so that the country can continue to operate normally without any administrative hiccups. Let the rebel backbenchers fight it out during the debates on the ministries, but the Budget would need to be approved.

One particular MP, Franco Debono, who is now generally seen as being more interested in his personal aggrandisement than in the policies he espouses, is of course expected to put more spokes in the wheels, but the MP should now realise that people are weary of his antics.

Also, with the election so close, they have far less significance than they did earlier in the year. It would be far better if he were to go on his own way than to persist in creating trouble for the party he had previously professed to be so enthusiastically part of.

Contrary to what he may think, he is not the only MP to have put forward good ideas, and he should also keep in mind that he was elected on the strength of the party he represented.

Dr Debono ruined his own political chances by the selfish way he handled his claims. In the process, he has done considerable harm to the image of local politicians, already tarnished by a number of factors.

But there was another interesting development over the weekend – the announcement by Simon Busuttil that he plans to contest the election on behalf of the PN. Dr Busuttil is a vote-puller and his decision to contest, something that must have clearly been expected in party circles, will greatly help to boost the morale of the PN, which has been trailing Labour for quite some time in opinion polls.

The Labour Party seems to have taken an election win for granted, arguing that people have for long been clamouring for change. The political unrest within the Nationalist Party has not helped boost the party’s election chances, but the battle for Castille is not won yet.

The country does not need the kind of scaremongering Dr Busuttil resorted to when he said he was convinced that should Labour be elected, the country would be knocking on Europe’s doors for a bailout within a year or two. Such talk will do the country no good.

On the other hand, however, Labour does need to spell out its ideas in clear, unequivocal terms. As the situation stands, it is giving the impression that it has few ideas that can compete with those of the PN.

In the meantime, all eyes will be on the Prime Minister’s words this evening, in what could prove to be the most important speech he has made during this legislature.




4 Comments Comment

  1. Ganna says:

    Gonzi on the granaries Thursday night was fantastic,he spoke very well, and he explained again the situation the Europeans are facing, like Greece , Spain, Italy ,France and Cyprus.

    Malta is very lucky to have a prime minister like Gonzi, who kept us away from these problems these countries are facing.
    All the Maltese should be grateful to our dearly prime minister.

    Muscat &Co, have nothing new to present our electoral, just copying the pn. They have two feasts, republic day and freedom day, they did ‘nt do anything to celebrate these feasts.

    What did they do, this week we were celebrating independence day, and they invented this summit, so their people will keep them off from hearing Gonzi explaining the bad currents he had to face to keep our heads above the water.

    People with brains know all this, and when the election is called
    We will support Gonzi for what he did to our beloved nation.

  2. ciccio says:

    The Prime Minister’s speech was excellent. It was positive, optimistic, upbeat and the PM was in good fighting spirit. Despite serving as PM in the most difficult of circumstances, he still has the energy to continue serving the country.

    His style is so different from that of Joseph Muscat. The PM knows how to fight for the job in which he can deliver benefits to the country. He plans ahead in a convincing manner.

    Muscat thinks that he now deserves to be PM as of right, because the PN has been in government for so many years. And he thinks that all he has to do is to propose “linji gwida” and ask the audience to raise its hands in approval.

    “Do you agree with Labour that government should create jobs? If yes, raise your hands.”

    OK, so a Labour government should create jobs.

  3. Alex says:

    Although i do not consider myself a political animal, I am a ‘Lifetime’ member of the Nationalist Party. Every year, the Party sends me a membership card to remind me of the fact. Today, I received my 2013 card, emblazoned in the ‘mychoice.pn’ colours. 

    The event, unremarkable as it may be, took me back to 1996, the year I had decided to  actively do something more than just vote to demonstrate my support to the Nationalist Party, and especially to Dr.Fenech Adami. In January of that year I had left my job to start my own business. Life was pretty tough without the comfort of a monthly salary.  However, I had an absolute conviction in my vision, and a determination to succeed that comes with youth and relative inexperience. The last thing on my mind that year was the possibility of a macro-economic tsunami rocking my business plan. Alas, one did indeed strike later in the year, in the form of an Alfred Sant led MLP victory at the polls. 

    Dr.Sant had managed quite a feat. In the five or so years since becoming ‘Leader’, he led a ‘revolutionary’ change within his party (a change which had been somewhat undone by his successor). I read somewhere that he made his Party hip enough for some very untraditional MLP voters to think that publicly claiming a switch of allegiance, from the NP to the MLP, actually made them look cool. 

    Back to Dr.Sant. By signing a pact with a good number of ‘devils’, he managed to lead the MLP to victory in the 96 elections. Dr.Sant was swept to Castille on the back of a pretty vacuous electoral manifesto. However, it did include two promises that appealed to the majority of the electorate. The inherent fear of anything outside the confines of our little rock (freeze EU application), and selfishness (removal of VAT, aka throw your cash-register away), traits that are so evident amongst our population, prevailed on the day. The incredible transformation that the NP had overseen in the nine years since relieving us from seventeen years of failed Socialist economic policies, had been quickly forgotten. I truly felt for Dr.Fenech Adami. I was instinctively compelled to pick up the phone and make the call that led me to my lifetime NP membership. 

    Dr.Sant had a dogged determination to honour his pre-election promises. He immediately froze our EU membership application and the country embarked on a ‘journey’ towards becoming “the Switzerland of the Mediterranean”. His next move was a roadshow in search of a viable alternative to VAT. In the process, he created CET, a ‘Frankenstein’ taxation system that managed the impossible feat of hiking the cost of living and reducing government’s tax income at the same time. Oh, and the brightest light in an otherwise dull MLP house, resigned as a result of his reluctance to oversee the introduction of the monstrous CET. It soon became apparent that Dr.Sant had been too busy with his Party’s cosmetic changes, whilst in opposition, to find the time to draw up a plan for managing the country in the event that he were elected.  The country went from Eddie’s visionary leadership, a clear long-term plan of where we want to go and how we will be getting there, to Dr.Sant’s day-to-day policy making. The stability that we had all taken for granted in the previous years, the same stability that created a suitable environment for the likes of myself to dream about starting their own business, was gone. Watching news programmes on the local stations was never big on my agenda. However, for two years, I had to put myself through a full hour of verbal diarrhoea just to come to grips with what will be hitting my little business the next day. Luckily “Is-Salvatur” finally lived up to his monicker and actually did some saving on our behalf. Ironic, that the same people who came up with the ‘Salvatur’ title viewed the man’s greatest feat as an act of treason. Anyway, the rest is history. Common sense prevailed and Dr.Sant’s MLP was relegated back to the opposition benches. Saying that, he did hang on to his Party’s leadership for ten more years, and with the MLP’s current leader as his side-kick, he even managed to dispense further misery and keep the country on tenterhooks before and after the  EU referendum. 

    Fast-forward to 2012. There is a feeling that the country intends to revisit 1996. If the polls are to be believed, the majority of the electorate does not care that our current Prime Minister has navigated the country through the worst global economic crises in modern history.  We truly are a nation of spoiled brats. Countries on the verge of bankruptcy to our north, revolutions to our south, and  a Government that ensures that our country has emerged unscathed in the process is trailing at the polls. And pray, what is the majority’s preferred alternative? A party that has so far kept its cards close to its chest and declines to let the country know how it intends to govern. They say that they do have a “road-map”, yet it is too good to disclose, for fears that Dr.Gonzi, bereft of ideas as he is, would hijack it for his own benefit. Their one and only battle-cry is that of reducing the cost of utilities – in a “sustainable” manner (remember CET). As if our country has the power, scale, or resources to be able to manage this. I for one, will not be fooled. They are not disclosing their plans because they have none. Simple. 

    Remember my little business? It is not so little anymore. It employs close to 90 people. I do not have the luxury of those who are willing to irresponsibly consider change, for change’s sake. Too many livelihoods depend on me. Unfortunately, come March, it is likely that I will find myself in a minority. Given our largely insular and conservative outlook to life, it is highly surprising that boredom can make so many plunge into the unknown. There is something in the air and it smacks of 1996. 

  4. David Meilak says:

    Alex, you have put what I try to explain to many people in the contribution above.

    I am so worried that I agree with you regarding the fact that our country is made up of spoiled brats. It’s a pity that the country eventually gets the government it deserves.

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