No more either bad or worse

It is more depressing than disappointing that Fr Peter Serracino Inglott sums up voters' options in the following syllogism: 1. Lawrence Gonzi is a nice guy; 2. his Cabinet colleagues are uninspiring, but inevitable; 3. Labour are not an alternative,

The conclusion: vote PN, get at least Dr Gonzi, if lumped with his mates. His final plea was to the younger generation implying that Dr Gonzi is indispensable for our hi-tech future and for proper governance. AD barely gets a mention.

Between the disastrous choice in PN Cabinet composition and an equally disastrous choice facing a possible Labour prime minister, Greens and all others can only mourn, not choose. On IT, we can have no doubt that any Maltese government will be enthusiastically aided by everyone, including the MLP, the Greens and, one hopes, Fr Peter himself.

While Fr Peter fear-spins against the choice of a one-party MLP government, the Greens refuse to be blinded by fear. Unless we elect our first Green MP in this election, the future is postponed for another five years, not our own political future but the county's future beyond the two-party system. The PN and MLP commitment to the construction lobby have brought us to the brink of economic and environmental disaster: 53,000 vacant properties, a glut threatening a collapse of the property market while young couples are crucified by 40-year home loans and while the owners of controlled rent properties still receive a pittance in rent in 2008.

The White Paper on rent reform promised by the Gonzi government has not even seen the light of day two years after its projected due date. Who could call that good governance?

Dr Gonzi, by promising a Freedom of Information Act, a Whistleblower Act, and a law on the financing of political parties, finally admits that we have been denied these key instruments of good governance. He invites us to elect the next government without their benefit. He has had three years to place them at our disposal but he leaves us with just a promise.

Voting Green does not threaten any future, but increases our chances of achieving the quality governance and hi-tech future we desire sometime in our lifetime. Not voting Green does not pose a risk of something undesirable, it makes the undesired a certainty: yet another one-party government. Dr Gonzi's promises become a certainty only if the Greens are there to make their fulfilment politically necessary.