Carbon copied campaigning!

"A political leader of quality goes about solving the country's problems without negatively affecting the quality of life of his people" (The Times, June 7). In fact, ultra sensitive to people's quality of life, the Prime Minister not only reduced income tax, he went a step further and wisely decided to identify and exempt 30,000 families from paying the surcharge, when oil prices soared. Last June, on national television, the Leader of the Opposition repeated the 1996 catch phrase that Labour's first priorities would be to raise the standard of living and to reduce the government's expenditure (Bondiplus, June 12). He never bothered to explain how he planned to do so, neither had he done so in 1996! But, when he was actually elected Prime Minister, the cards tumbled onto the table, face up.

Instead of holding a magic wand and raising the quality of life of his people while reducing government expenditure, he triggered a cataclysmic free fall among the most needy by eating away at the funds previously allocated by the Nationalist government to the various "social" organisations.

Basically, his magic potion consisted in reducing: Lm50,000 from the drug rehabilitation Caritas programme Tama Gdida; Lm32,000 from the government agency Sedqa; a further Lm11,000 allotted to a drug awareness campaign; Lm2,000 to Dar Nazzaret, in Zejtun and Lm10,000 from the Gozitan voluntary bodies. The Moviment Hidma Socjali's lot was shrunk by Lm48,000 - from Lm50,000 to a measly Lm2,000. Even old people's Homes were not immune to his guillotine and suffered a Lm70, 000 loss. The incontinence services offered to the elderly were short-changed by Lm20,000 and Lm100,000 were struck off the Hidma Socjali programme for battered women and needy children and Lm25,000 off the Health Education Unit. The sum allocated for disabled children's lunches was cut by Lm10,000. The Labour government, led by Alfred Sant, also reduced Lm15,000 from the mental health rehabilitation programme and the funds given to the National Commission for the Disabled were down by Lm20,000. Instead of supporting local councils to the hilt, as he had promised to do, he struck off Lm1 million from their books, so much so that ongoing projects had to be stopped. Even funds to the police were decapitated.

That is how Dr Sant chose to breathe a New Life (Nifs Gdid) into Malta. This is how he chose to safeguard the well-being and raise the standard of living of our people. And now, as Leader of the Opposition, he is once again posing as the paladin of the poor, now promising to reduce the surcharge.

Incidentally, we are all waiting with bated breath to learn how he plans to make up for the shortfall of some Lm25 million this hollow promise of his will inevitably lead to. Is he planning to erase more "social" support with a touch on his infamous retrograde 1996 calculator?

Dr Sant has been the Labour leader for a good 15 years. He is the same politician who clashed with Dom Mintoff, Lino Spiteri, George Abela, Alex Sceberras Trigona, Maria Camilleri and company. He is the one who hovered over Maghtab to treat the mega-stigma on our environment; who refused to participate in MCESD discussions and to discuss pension reform; who transformed VAT into CET; who meddled with stipends and utility bills; who battled against EU membership, privatisation, pluralism, a free market; who proposed depreciating the lira; who objected to joining the eurozone; who doubled the size of Mater Dei Hospital; who removed the Gozo Ministry; who opposed the building of the Gozo ferries... who still flitters all over the spring hunting issue... breathless?

He is also the politician who called EU parliamentarians all sort of names and us all "snakes and sour puss"... who claimed that: He would fiddle with EU regulations if the need arose... he would sign a pact with the devil if it meant gaining votes...that the Sicilians would be coming to Malta to take our jobs...that Malta would only get Lm1.5 million from the EU... that no overtime would be allowed... that the referendum won the day... that I don't know how many companies would fold once we became EU members... that corruption is rife...

Incidentally, a July online poll by The Times posed the pertinent question: "Should Labour accept the PM's proposals to beef up the Permanent Commission Against Corruption?" A staggering percentage of the responders voted yes but according to Dr Sant, the weekly columnist (The Times, July 25) the Prime Minister's invitation to Labour to join forces to "reform" the Anti-Corruption Commission is "a manoeuvre to distract attention from the real challenge"... but that is another long story!