Alfred Sant's joke

Writing in The Times of Thursday, three readers wrote in unison that according to them Alfred Sant won hands down the debate held with Lawrence Gonzi on Bondiplus.

Were the reasons given by these readers due to the fact that in this debate Dr Sant finally disclosed his proverbial plan for Malta's future up to at least 2016 (to go at least one better than Dr Gonzi's plan up to 2015), or was it because he informed us all how he is to replace the income generated from the electricity surcharge after halving it? (I thought that last year he had told us all solemnly that he was going to eliminate VAT on electricity bills and after being informed that no VAT is payable by the final consumer the surcharge was to be completely eliminated). Or was it because perhaps Dr Sant finally disclosed to us all the plans for bringing major investments like Smart City or Lufthansa Technik?

None of the above. We just heard from Dr Sant the repeated theory that VAT is payable on education and that families are struggling to cope with the cost of living, which is exactly what he based his successful campaign of 1996 upon.

While it is useless repeating ad nauseum the fact that no VAT is charged on educational items as the provision of educational services is exempt, one wonders how Dr Sant if elected as future Prime Minister will go about eliminating VAT paid on school uniforms, stationery etc. etc. Will we have a repeat of the infamous CET tax which was introduced and understood only by Dr Sant? Will we start buying stationery items from stationers for personal use and start telling them not to charge VAT as they will be used for school purposes? The same applies for clothes, computers, mobiles etc. etc.

The cost of living is a problem that will never be solved by waving a magic wand. All of us have felt the increase in water and electricity tariffs and fuel. Were these increases brought about by a cruel government just to increase its revenue or was it due to the fact that international oil prices have sky rocketed over the last years up to $90 per barrel? When during the tenure of Dr Sant as Prime Minister a barrel of oil cost $12, the electricity bills were more or less what they are now.

Do these readers assume that we are alone in the world and that these price increases will not affect us? Other major countries have nearly collapsed due to the increase in oil but luckily Malta has not only survived but we are now registering an increase in our GDP of four per cent per annum. This increase was certainly not brought about without sacrifices which we all had to endure.

All the readers that wrote, for some reason again in unison, did not mention the reason given by Dr Sant himself for his performance at the Birzebbuga labour mass meeting, that is was just a joke!

Pardon? A joke? Are we expected to listen to Dr Sant and try to establish whether he is joking or talking seriously? Are we expected to trust Dr Sant with the leadership of our country?

The only joke with regard to Dr Sant was the 22-month period that he spent as Prime Minister, a joke that hopefully will never be repeated.