Dr Anna Mallia and I do not exactly see things from the same political or other perspectives. Be that as it may, over the past few days, we both had the unique privilege of being accused of resorting to gimmicks by the Opposition Leader!
As regards Dr Mallia, the accusation was made after she chose the Sette Giugno commemoration to lay a wreath on behalf of a new MLP (Moviment Laburista Popolari) at the monument erected to the four Maltese victims of the bread riots of June 7,1919. In my case, the accusation was made for attending a meeting of Ministers of Culture held during the Cannes film festival.
I cannot be too sure how Dr Mallia might have reacted to this accusation. I know that she has sued the MLP (Malta Labour Party) secretary-general for libel over comments he made about her following the wreath-laying ceremony, but she appears to have been less taken aback by the Opposition Leader's own remark about gimmicks.
In my case, I have been much perturbed! I'll explain why - the last thing I need is to be accused of resorting to gimmicks by Mr Gimmicks himself! It's like being certified as a trainee doctor by a renowned surgeon. That kind of certification can only be described as a very flattering compliment. It is equivalent to being recognised by the Master of the Art.
Gimmicks are very much on Dr Sant's mind. A number of flashbacks crossed my mind and in the process I can better understand why all of a sudden this country has at least two MLPs, although methinks that Dr Sant is comfortably in control of the machine of the party proper.
When Dr Sant was making his case to win the support of the electorate in the 1996 election, he had led the self-employed to believe that should he become Prime Minister, they would not have to operate cash registers any more. It was the ultimate temptation. No cash registers means no VAT, no audit trail, no need to properly fill in income tax returns.
This gimmick had worked brilliantly. Dr Sant did become Prime Minister in September 1996 and those who had fallen for the bait even took their cash registers with them to form part of victory carcades around the country. Soon enough they had to buy new cash registers and Dr Sant simply replaced VAT with a more costly CET, losing in the process his able Minister of Finance!
It did not take the people too long to discover that Dr Sant was a disaster as Prime Minister, and at the first available opportunity made sure that he went back into Opposition. Dr Sant is now hoping that enough time has passed since the bitter 1996-1998 experience for gimmicks to work again, and for him to become once more Malta's Prime Minister. We can only be the wiser about whether or not Dr Sant is right in making this assumption in three years' time!
Dr Mallia appears to be one of a group of dissenting Labourites who think that the party they love is not electable with its present leadership. Others think otherwise. They assume elections can be compared to a game of lotto. If you play the same number over and over gain, it will eventually come up.
Gimmicks, however, do not always work. The 1998 election proves that - Dr Sant thought that he could ride roughshod over deep divisions within his own Party - on fiscal, social and foreign policy issues - by placing all bets on an early election that he never had to call in the first place. He was so sure about his strategy that be escalated the vote on the Cottonera project to one of confidence in the government and then call a fresh election.
The newly formed MLP has a former minister and an MP in its ranks who were then basically disagreeing with Dr Sant not out of any love for the Nationalist Party (hardly!) but precisely because they did not want him to risk all in such a manner. Moreover they were then already feeling that the Labour Party as led at present has lost its soul. In such circumstances, other persons need to position themselves to represent genuine Labour interests. This is the sentiment that has surfaced again on June 7.
When Dr Sant managed to take Labour back in Opposition after governing for a total of 22 months, he had his own fair chance at leading back the party to victory. Most political analysts would agree that the least he could have done was to distinguish between the people's right to choose in favour or against European Union membership, and the people's right to choose the party to govern them.
When the 2003 referendum began to loom, Dr Sant was sent a letter by Dr Eddie Fenech Adami as Prime Minister inviting him to simply declare that he would participate in the referendum process (the choice of course being left up to him whether to ask people to vote for or against membership). In the letter Dr Sant was given the opportunity to actually have a relevant say in the choice of the subsequent election date!
Dr Sant would have none of it. Guess how he had described the letter sent to him by the Prime Minister? You're spot on - he had referred to it as a gimmick.
As if that were not enough, he went on into one mistake followed by another mode with professionalism. He decided for instance to instruct Labour supporters to choose one of three options: not voting, voting and spoiling the ballot paper, or voting against.
When the absolute majority of the people voted for membership, he called a meeting to 'celebrate' a victory for the No vote.
A little later, he came up with another gimmick. He said that if he were elected Prime Minister, he would resolve the whole issue by holding another referendum himself. That meant suggesting that one referendum was not enough since the matter had to be decided through a general election, and then claiming that would still be inconclusive since one more referendum would be held.
It was pointed out to Dr Sant that that could only lead to protracting a period of anxiety and uncertainty in the country. The only real result would have been Malta's missing the opportunity of joining the EU since the accession treaty had to be signed within days following the 2003 election.
In pre-election mode, Dr Sant was producing gimmicks by the hour. In 2003 none worked. In 2008 he will try out some new ones.
Other gimmicks included promising a tax holiday which was estimated as costing the country around Lm25 million, and the 'mother of all gimmicks' - signing a pact with the people on the footsteps of St John's Co-Cathedral. A notary was brought in to draw up the deed signed by Dr Sant, Dr George Vella and Dr Joe Brincat.
Most of these gimmicks were very much criticised even within the Labour Party rank and file following the 2003 election A critical report was drawn up to highlight what had gone wrong but it is clear to me that the Labour Party has not learnt much since then, not even from its own reports. Following that election, Dr Sant had also stated that he would not contest the leadership again, only to be eventually dissuaded otherwise by callers on Super One radio programmes!
The list of gimmicks quoted above is not exhaustive. Other examples include flying over Maghtab when in office to resolve waste management issues, using a supermarket carrier to indicate the cost of items, building a mountain of water bottles to criticise an environmental regulation, claiming that projects have kicked off when they are just announced, and describing a government elected as a result of a general election, called and conducted by himself as Prime Minister, as illegitimate!
Gimmicks lead to strange situations. At present Dr Sant is in the uncomfortable position of encouraging party delegates to favour ratification of the EU Constitution by the Labour parliamentary group with his former leader... well, simply making the same arguments that he (Dr Sant) used to make up to two years ago!
Hey, Mr Gimmicks - one word of advice: leave us alone!
info@franciszammitdimech.com
www.franciszammitdimech.com