An important question that many floating voters are asking is: What would it be like to have Alfred Sant as Prime Minister if Labour wins the forthcoming general election? The Nationalist Party media has, as expected, already started the process of the demonisation of Dr Sant. The Nationalists have even come up with the ridiculous assertion that Dr Sant is too old for the post!
Let me start with this question of age. Anybody who really knows Dr Sant will vouch for his tirelessness and energy. An early riser, his day often consists of countless meetings, paperwork, public appearances and speeches and he even finds time to indulge in writing great works of Maltese literature. Suffice to say that in 2001, at the height of the European Union membership national debate, Dr Sant published La Bidu, La Tmiem, a monumental 892-page historical novel in Maltese, widely acclaimed by the critics. This is the person whom the Nationalists are trying to portray as a tired old man!
Now let me turn to Dr Sant's role as Prime Minister.
His 1996-98 record speaks for itself: The embellishment of Bugibba, the completion of the first phase of the Chadwick Lakes project, the successes in the war against drug trafficking, the successful hosting of the second Euro-Mediterranean Conference, a sustained drive to eradicate illiteracy, a plan for the socio-economic regional development of the southern part of Malta, a special scheme of financial assistance whereby Gozitan non-governmental organisations could benefit from aid for infrastructural projects, public works in Gozo at the Cittadella, Ghajnsielem, Marsalforn, Ta' Dbiegi crafts village and Xlendi, a marked increase in Gozo-based tourism, an increase in the rate of economic expansion leading to an increase of 14 per cent in the Gross Domestic Product in the first three months of 1998, control of the deficit to about Lm18 million in the first six months of 1998, the allocation by Libya of a sum of $10 million annually for an indefinite period and for the scope of private investment in Malta, visits of Labour delegations to Canada and Australia, which left positive results for Maltese emigrants. Need I go on?
The PN media has done its utmost to present the 1996-98 Labour government as a failure, citing the fact that it only lasted 22 months. Dr Sant failed as Prime Minister and, if entrusted with leading the nation once again, he will repeat that failure, the Nationalists stress. Nothing could be further from the truth! The 1996-98 Labour government was the victim of circumstances beyond anybody's control, a purely internal dispute that had nothing to do with the government's performance or with that of its leader.
An important point to consider in this pre-general election period is the particular character of Dr Sant's national leadership. What some people do not seem to realise is that Dr Sant is, first and foremost, a technocrat and only secondly a politician. He is, above all, the expert manager of a competent team that gets the job done in the most efficient manner. In other words, he delivers in the best way, the least costly one and within the shortest possible time period. Dr Sant's characteristics as Prime Minister, in fact, could be compared to those of highly-respected ex-Italian Prime Minister Lamberto Dini, who was also a technocrat first and a politician second. Furthermore, Dr Sant always tells the truth to the nation; he does not try to take citizens for a ride as a partisan political leader does. He goes for the long-term interests of the nation, not short-term, ad hoc solutions as a leader of lesser calibre does.
Let me give an example. Take the case of inflation in Malta. How did Nationalist Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi try to solve the problem? Through price stability agreements, by means of which companies/importers/retailers are bound not to increase their prices up to the end of March 2008. This is a politically-motivated solution, surely not in the national interest and criticised even by economic analysts as unwarranted government intervention in the functioning of the free market. One asks: What happens after March 2008? Dr Gonzi's style of leadership, therefore, is characterised by easy, short-term solutions which only solve problems in the immediate future but, on a long-term basis, leave the problems without an adequate solution.
What would Dr Sant do as Prime Minister? As an expert, a technocratic Prime Minister, Dr Sant would create an agency responsible for monitoring free market and competition conditions and which would conduct a report, every six months, to see how prices are fluctuating on items such as food, medicines and education. The free and competitive market would continue to function as before but the problem of abusive monopolies and price-fixing would be effectively tackled. The agency would have "teeth" and unjustified price hikes would be immediately dealt with in the interests of consumers as well as the business community itself.
In other words, Dr Sant is proposing a long-term strategy and solution that would effectively tackle the problem. Even Dr Gonzi has now realised that this is an extremely valid Labour proposal.
This is the crucial and important difference between Prime Minister Gonzi and Prime Minister Sant. Dr Sant gets the job done effectively and efficiently. Dr Gonzi takes ages to accomplish something and he tends to go for the short-term, temporary solutions rather than long-term effective ones. If one peruses the last budget presented by the PN government, one finds several proposals that had already been presented in last year's budget. They have not been accomplished and have been presented once again this year. Moreover, the Nationalist government included measures freely borrowed from Labour's published proposals!
I will conclude on the question of integrity. Has Dr Sant, both as Leader of the Opposition and as Prime Minister, ever been associated with the slightest hint of corruption? Has the 1996-98 Labour government ever been criticised on the issue of corruption? Of course not! I do not want to be unfair, so I will openly state that I believe Dr Gonzi to be a man of integrity. However, the record of his government, for which he is ultimately responsible, is a negative one where the prevention of corruption is concerned, even if, on a personal basis, the Prime Minister's record is impeccable.
Thus, Dr Sant is the citizen's natural choice for Malta's next Prime Minister. If you want the country to move forward at a faster pace with a government that shows more respect towards the ordinary citizen and under a competent leader, vote Labour.