There's a time... "a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted."

It is my long held opinion that an indispensable quality of a good leader is to know when the time comes for him to get off.

Alfred Sant's leadership qualities or the lack of them are starkly evident by now. He knows that a sizeable part of the Labour Party want him to resign because after the bitter campaign spearheaded by himself and George Vella, he is simply not going to be credible, either to the European Socialists or, more importantly, to the Maltese electorate.

He has become an albatross for the MLP's political aspirations for the forthcoming election. With him still at the helm, many are resigned to yet an other ignominious defeat.

After his many pronouncements at the prospect of joining the EU, a last-minute somersault will not convince anyone.

He has to admit that the shackles imposed on prominent people in the party to silence anybody who is not in total agreement with the party line, be it VAT or Switzerland in the Mediterranean, are now being cast off with admirable relish.

Note how José Herrera, Alfred Mifsud, Anglu Farrugia and perhaps more significantly John Attard Montalto are feeling more able to speak their mind, without worrying about incurring the wrath of the part leadership.

Other notable people, who distinguished themselves by their courage in ignoring the idiotic party line about not participating in L-Istrina are Karmenu Vella and Louis Buhagiar.

Personally, I confess my admiration for Mr Mifsud, who took a leading role in voicing concern about MLP policies that were doomed to fail or cause acute embarrassment to the party by necessitating even more somersaults in due course.

Dr Herrera, who seems to have recently become totally uninhibited, is yet another personality who is gaining a lot of admiration for his frank and astonishingly deep analysis of the MLP's mistaken policies of the past, which lost them too many elections and, more importantly, how to rectify some of them.

If only these courageous people are listened to there might be a chance of the MLP gaining enough credibility to contest a general election with some prospect of success.

To conclude, the party needs to give weight to the analysis report that they themselves commissioned to an autonomous working group. It will be tantamount to condemning the party to another five years of oblivion if this advice is not heeded. The party has five years to sort itself out; the primary objective for the party is to work on a strategy that will appeal enough and be credible enough to make it to government.

Last minute U-turns, as has been disastrously proved in the past, have to be avoided at all costs. The time is now to commit the MLP convincingly to a change of policy about the EU, under new leadership.

The ambiguity of official statements jars with the editorial line on Super One Radio and TV. It confuses not only the loyal supporters of the party, who look up to it for direction, but more importantly, it fails to impress the floating voter, who while realising the need of a change in government after all these years, are still sceptical of the MLP to present itself with a modicum of credibility.

I warn the MLP that the view of many is that we are witnessing the looming spectacle of another serious split within the MLP. Unless Dr Sant removes himself from the leadership, the party is going to carry on losing its best people as happened in the recent past under Dr Sant's disastrous leadership. This has to be done in good time before the next election in order to allow the party enough time to get over the inevitable trauma such abrupt changes bring in their wake.

I sincerely wish that the MLP will have a cool long look at itself and where their leadership and policies are taking them. There are still people in the MLP who command respect and have it within them to lead the party more credibly than was the case in the past.

Malta and democracy requires an alternative government to come to the fore after a period in opposition. To this end, it is vital that the MLP courageously attend to what needs to be done to be credibly seen as the next government.