Time to act now

Incredible, but true! After 14 meetings of the party's Parliamentary Group and executive, Alfred Sant and his party "agreed to disagree" with the government's proposals aimed at solving the problem of unsustainability of the country's pension system.

Once more the Labour Party is showing lack of vision. This comes as no surprise, since, unfortunately, past experience has shown that the sole aim of the MLP in opposition is that of criticising all that the PN government decides to do, no matter what. The irony about it all is that in many past important issues, the MLP subsequently declared it agreed with the changes. Classic examples are the pluralism in broadcasting, VAT and the EU issues.

Little, it seems, does it matter for the MLP that a lot of precious time and resources would have been wasted during its crusades against the government's proposals, which time and resources would have been better utilised for the country's good had the MLP collaborated in a serious and responsible manner with the government!

The pensions issue is another occasion for Dr Sant and his party to rise above petty partisan politics and, in the national interest, work out together with the government and other interested parties a decent and sustainable pensions system which will put at rest the minds of the young citizens and workers of today so that tomorrow they can enjoy a decent pension. Instead, Dr Sant and his party decide there is no urgency and that the process of strengthening the pension system should be shelved and then hold an "experts' conference" and a "national congress" in 2009 and 2010.

The strange thing about it all is that Dr Sant does not come out with any concrete proposals as to what he intends doing. It is evident that this is a position inspired by Dr Sant's political opportunism in that he does not want to divulge what is his party's real stand in a miserable effort not to lose votes in the next election.

I am sure that every sensible citizen remembers how Dr Sant had handled the VAT issue when, for example, prior to the election he used to say he would hold "meetings and conferences on VAT to eliminate it". He never gave any indication of how he would replace it. When in government, Dr Sant decided it all by himself, so much so that even his Minister of Finance had resigned because he did not agree with what he was doing. Dr Sant had concocted a complicated system of excise tax on importation, a tax on services and an excise tax on products which saw taxation go up to as much as 29 per cent.

I think it is inevitable that one is concerned at the manner in which Dr Sant has and is handling the pensions issue, especially when one remembers that the MLP had opted not to take part in any of the discussions and debates held on the pensions reform; this in spite of the fact that the party was continuously being invited to participate and express its views. All sectors of society had participated in an open debate. Showing political irresponsibility the MLP chose only to criticise what was going on without ever putting forward one single proposal.

Considering the above one has to remember that when Dr Sant was Prime Minister he had commissioned and accepted a report that concluded that the pensions issue had to be addressed as soon as possible. This report - New Initiatives And Projects, published in October 1997 - agreed that the pensionable age should rise to 65 years.

The report by Dr Sant's government had considered pensions as a financial problem because there was a difference between the income and expenditure of the government and was suggesting that the situation should be remedied over a period of 10 years. So I am sure that every honest citizen who has the country's well-being at heart, including supporters of the MLP, in particular the young citizens and workers, would like to turn at Dr Sant and ask: "Dr Sant, why are you once more playing a political game with such a sensitive issue as our future pension?" This is a time for national unity because the pensions reform cannot be considered as a political issue.

Mr Galea is a local councillor and former mayor of Mqabba.