Sant seeks to end MLP internal strife

Alfred Sant sought yesterday to stem dissent in his Labour Party, giving a brutally sharp warning to anyone departing from the party line.

"Anyone who does not conserve unity in the Labour Party will find me and all the Labour Party against him," he said in a clinically short declaration, which left no one in any doubt of the internal strife raging under the surface in the party.

Dr Sant did not give any indication of anyone, or those, he had in mind, or the cause of dissent, and his warning did not follow the main line of thought of his speech at the Birkirkara party club.

The warning came like a bolt out of the blue at the very end of a speech by Dr Sant in which he said the time had come when the party would put into practice all that had been achieved at a great sacrifice by Labourites during recent years.

Dr Sant also said that the referendum (on EU membership) did not interest the Labour Party. It was the general election that was important, when the electorate would have the option to vote for the MLP programme, he said.

When asked by The Times what stance the opposition would take in parliament on the debate on bills to amend the General Elections Act and the articles of the constitution on the holding of elections, Dr Sant said the government had not shown any good will in the suggestions made by the Labour Party, which it believed would ensure a fair election.

"The government has not shown any good will towards the points that the Labour Party is insisting on, namely residence requirements, dual citizenship and embarkation cards," he said.

Asked once more what line the MLP would follow in the debate, Dr Sant said that from his first answer, it was obviously clear what line the party would follow.

The constitutional amendment would need the support of two-thirds of the members of the House of Representatives. Its object is to allow certain persons residing abroad to continue to be registered as voters.

The PN and the MLP have held a year of talks on updating the electoral laws but have been unable to agree on a draft and both have now prepared their own bills.

Earlier in his speech Dr Sant said that last week Justice Minister Austin Gatt said in parliament that judges and magistrates should refrain from taking part in activities, such as lecturing, and posts in social clubs because of possible conflicts of interest.

While the justice minister had brought up this conflict of interest, Freeport chairman Marin Hili was backed by the prime minister even after he bought a 50 per cent share in the port of Venice.

There was no doubt that the Venice freeport would compete with Malta Freeport, he said. Mr Hili found also the backing of Economic Services Minister Josef Bonnici and of The Times, Dr Sant said.

The same conflict of interest issue arose in the case of parliamentary secretary George Hyzler, who together with contractor Nazzareno Vassallo had applied to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to build a home for the elderly overlying the health centre in Qormi.

Dr Sant said a company was to be set up on the public-private partnership model to embellish the countryside. The idea was to take on 300 public service employees and carry out the necessary work making use of government sites such as Argotti Gardens and Wied Incita.

The negotiations which had been going on for the past six months with civil service head J.R. Grima had been concluded and the work awarded to a consortium which included ic-Caqnu, (a leading building contractor) and Calamatta brothers.

Without saying that the selection process was faulted, the Labour Party wanted to know how the selection process was carried out and why it was not made public, Dr Sant said.

Would Wied Incita be used for the growing of plants with the result that smaller nurseries would be thrown out of business?

Dr Sant described the EU negotiations as a "complete failure".

While last week Spain had protected the uninhabited island of Perejil, which was as big as Filfla, against a Moroccan invasion, the Maltese government had given away three quarters of the 25-mile fishing zone which so far was used only by Maltese fishermen.

Dr Sant said that it was Pat Cox, president of the European Parliament, who had on a visit to Malta referred to abortion, saying that abortion had nothing to do with the EU.

However, shortly afterwards the European Parliament had voted in favour of abortion.

Dr Sant said that Michael Frendo, who represented the Nationalist Party at the European Convention, had suggested that abortion would not follow the way other EU rules were incorporated by EU member states.

Drawing a parallel, Dr Sant said the constitution of Malta stated that no military ships belonging to the superpowers could be repaired by Maltese shipyards, yet such repair work was carried out despite what the constitution said.