Independence Day did not mean just a national day and the beginning of a new season. It also meant the beginning of what should be a crucial political year that will lead us to a general election.
Usually, it's only the Nationalist Party leader that has a platform on the eve of Independence Day at the granaries, in Floriana. Not so this year. Labour deliberately organised what it called a Mass Fest at Birzebbuga and the spotlight was therefore on both leaders - minutes from each other.
On Independence Day, both NET TV and Super 1 broadcast repetitions of both leaders' respective speeches. I was going through stations and I made it a point to watch Alfred Sant's Birzebbuga speech on Super 1 and Lawrence Gonzi's on NET TV.
I anticipated that the Labour leader, months away from what he hopes to be his second spell at Castile, would be telling televiewers about his results in past years and his vision for Malta in the next few years.
I hate saying this, because I value all political leaders who have a hard job to do and who are subject to harsh public criticism unlike us private citizens, but what happened in Birzebbuga was far from edifying. It was an odd Dr Sant, pronouncing Dr Gonzi's name with a drool and a bizarre pitch and following the crowd's chants of Viva l-Labour, viva l-Labour, rather than explaining his vision for the country as a whole.
Dr Sant's speech shrugged off his own government of 1996-98. It was a pessimistic speech and one was left with a clear feeling that, after nine years plus four in opposition, Dr Sant is far better at being negative than at spelling out his vision for Malta.
The Prime Minister's speech on the granaries was broadcast several times on the morrow as well. Dr Gonzi explained the results he has been getting for Malta as Prime Minister during the last three years.
What hit me was that perhaps the Nationalists are not explaining well enough their results since EU membership. The number of people working is at an all-time high, education is going through a veritable revolution, reforms in the health care system are riding the wave - as it were - of the impetus of the new hospital.
Challenges there are, of course, and Dr Gonzi showed he understands people's concerns for a better environment and their yearning for better enforcement of environment laws. He gave an account of decisions that are bearing fruit after government listened - a mini-boom in tourism, an improvement in our infrastructure, the confidence after passing all euro tests, measures for the family and a reduction in income tax rates.
Dr Gonzi also spelled out his vision for Malta over the next eight years as a centre of excellence in technology, financial services, tourism, education, specialised manufacturing, and health with Malta capitalising on the substantial and several-yet-untapped opportunities in the EU.
Comparisons are odious, but one could not but compare the two leaders' performances broadcast repeatedly on the same day.
Dr Gonzi is fast becoming his own man, with his own distinctive style - a good communicator confident of Malta's future and determined to harness the talents of all Maltese. This was in stark contrast to Dr Sant's strange speech shrouded in negativism coming in the wake, as it did, of the Labour general secretary declaring that a Labour government will be a government for Labourites. Despite the repetition that the country needs a change, Dr Sant's now infamous speech in Birzebbuga gave the televiewer the distinct impression that it might be Labour that needs a change.
There are only two men who have any realistic chance of becoming Prime Minister of Malta at the end of the political year that has just begun. We know both of them as both have been Prime Minister for one term. We know the results they achieved. We can judge them not just by what they say but also by what they do. They're jostling to have a second term at Castile.
I would be talking for a very large swathe of people if I say that we all want a safe pair of hands at the helm of the ship of state. We want someone who can lead a modernised MV Malta that is now sailing in European waters with considerable opportunities yet in much changed conditions. I have no doubt who offers that safe pair of hands. Not that he is perfect or that his party is blemish-free. Far from it. But the results he's delivering and his vision for Malta, together with his performance, make him the best choice. That man is Dr Gonzi.
eddiea@onvol.net