How can anyone think there is nothing wrong with Labour, when they keep pushing away the right man for the job - George Abela? I doubt if there is anyone in Malta who does not agree with me about this assessment of Dr Abela. Labourites know that with him at the helm their party would coast to a historic victory in the next elections. Even hard-line Nationalists acknowledge (though reluctantly) that their party would stand no chance of winning if the MLP were led by Dr Abela.

I am sure many readers will be taken by surprise when reading this: Eddie Aquilina rooting for an MLP victory in the next election? How could that be? Well, let me carry on surprising you: I don't mind an MLP election victory provided the MLP is led by the right man or woman.

Labour has the right man standing on the sidelines but they continue to disparage him and distance him from them. Dr Abela has consistently proven that he is a serious man of principle, and for his principles he was ready to sacrifice everything.

He was one of the most successful Malta Football Association presidents in the association's history. Yet when he was elected to become MLP deputy secretary he behaved like the gentleman he is and resigned from the post that he loved so much.

He was succeeded by Joe Mifsud, whose reign can in some ways be compared with the way Sepp Blatter runs Fifa. When Mr Blatter, for example, was asked about the book written by award winning author Anthony Jenning, Foul - The Secret World Of FIFA, he arrogantly replied that it was fiction - similar to Dr Mifsud's reaction to Minister Dolores Cristina's criticism of his decision to keep a convicted paedophile in a job where he remained in contact with young boys. Remember, Dr Mifsud simply said: I don't need to answer her! Dr Mifsud, like Mr Blatter, acts this way because he is surrounded by yes men, as are leaders in the Maltese Labour movement.

As a true gentleman, when Dr Abela resigned from his MFA post he did not concoct some strategy to keep running the show from behind the scenes, as he could easily have done. Incredibly, Dr Mifsud and his clique have never even bothered to consult him: they ignore him as if he was never MFA president.

The same tactic was employed by Alfred Sant with Dr Abela. The latter openly disagreed that the Labour government should go to the polls in 1998, after only 22 months in power. When Dr Sant persuaded the party delegates to vote in favour of that step, Dr Abela again behaved as a gentleman: he resigned saying that time would tell who was right.

Labour will have spent at least 10 years in opposition as a result of Dr Sant's decision. Although Dr Abela's assessment was proved right while that of Dr Sant was hopelessly wrong, Dr Sant is still going to lead Labour in the next elections. He has also surrounded himself by yes men and appears to refuse to take the advice of anyone who had disagreed with him in the past such as Lino Spiteri and Dr Abela himself.

In these circumstances, where it is obvious to every one of us that Dr Abela's political savvy is superior to that of Dr Sant, Dr Abela behaves like the gentleman he is and has let Dr Sant plod arrogantly on.

There is a parallel in the way Dr Abela behaved when his services as legal consultant were spurned by the GWU. He was one of the accused - later given a pardon - for taking part in the GWU's "industrial action" that attempted to paralyse the airport in August (in the middle of the tourist season) seven years ago. He felt the union was right and he supported it with no reservations. Yet when he disagreed with the GWU because it wanted him to take legal action on its behalf and he believed that such action was not on, he stuck to his professional ethics with the result that he was booted out of the GWU.

Again he behaved like the gentleman he is, even when provoked by the GWU who refused to let him enter the Workers' Memorial Building to address port workers. The GWU lost heavily on that one, but the leadership's arrogance was paramount.

It may well seem that Joe Mifsud, Alfred Sant and Tony Zarb consider themselves "untouchables" but it is Dr Abela that comes out tops. Each one of them have been tried and tested and they have all failed miserably. Dr Abela has been tried and tested and his character was never found wanting. That is why so many people think that it is he who should lead the MLP.

I might be a dreamer, to paraphrase John Lennon. Imagine if Lawrence Gonzi and Dr Abela, two upright gentlemen coming from two opposing political forces, were to join up and cooperate for the good of this country.

Just imagine!

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