What are the real facts?

On February 17, The Times said editorially that if the MLP continues to persist in preaching gloom all the time, they will not make it to government. This statement is in line with the stand I took on a multitude of occasions in the House of Representatives when discussing the dangers of having an opposition that highlights exclusively the challenges faced by our nation or, worse still, mocks real positive ones.

On February 23, IT and Public Investment Minister Austin Gatt launched a multimillion dollar project that will see 5,600 Maltese and Gozitans being employed over a period of eight years. The news that Tecom will be investing in our country is indeed welcomed by many. An under-run area in the south of our country will be redeveloped and re-utilised for the benefit of the nation.

Notwithstanding, the MLP, through its spokesmen and its media, tries to mock this news and gives the impression that the information is only being given now, just weeks before the local council elections, in order to serve as a positive strategic ingredient in the PN campaign to get people to vote for Nationalist candidates.

In so doing, the MLP is telling us two things.

First of all it is admitting that the investment by Tecom is a definite positive one.

Secondly, the MLP is demonstrating the way it reacts as a political party. The target is always to sow doubt in people's mind. Why, would one ask. This is the way the MLP does politics. It tries to get people to look at only one side of the coin, letting them question even what is obviously positive.

The MLP knows very well that its supporters are more militant than those of the PN. They know that supporters of a party in opposition will be more inclined to go out and vote than the supporters of a party in government would be. A party in government is the provider and it is only logical that when you are a provider, it is harder to please everyone on an equal footing.

The MLP therefore knows that if it tries to get PN voters to only look at the challenges our country faces, it will decrease the number of PN voters who will go to the polling booth on voting day. The consequence is simple mathematics. The MLP will be elected by riding piggy back on those Nationalist voters it manages to lure to a purely negative and gloomy thinking process.

This brings me to another consideration. Coming from Rabat, I can only imagine that people are drawing their own conclusions about what is happening in the historical monument of St Paul's grotto. It was interesting to follow the unfolding of events on the media. The Rabat local councillors on the PN side come out with a statement; the MLP mayor and the MLP media reacted defensively and threw the issue out of the window as if nothing had happened.

I do believe that rather than getting lost into what is the nature of the inorganic substance that is seeping into the grotto, one should question why water has seeped through the grotto twice in its history and, wonder of wonders, when the road was being constructed on both occasions. My question to the Rabat mayor is therefore whether at least he accepts responsibility for commissioning the road construction, during which water seeped into the grotto in a substantial amount.

What's my point in using this example? I hope the people appreciate the fact that together with the PN government's belief that localities should have autonomous rule comes the responsibility of mayors and local councils to manage the locality.

I therefore ask people to judge for themselves in whichever locality they live whether their local council with an MLP or PN majority strove hard enough to bring about coherence and to make their locality a better place to live in. Let this be the yardstick that is used on voting day today week.

I hope people can make the distinction between the responsibilities that lie within the local council and those pertaining to central governing bodies.

May genuine concern for local issues guide the judgement of voters!

Dr Cassar is a Nationalist MP.