Onlyinlabour.com

For those who like to look at the odd, the funny and the downright weird there is an Internet site called onlyinmalta.com. As the name suggests, you will find images which bring across the unique character of these islands. One of my favourites, on so many levels, is the sign that somebody fixed to his car bumper. Handwritten, and on brown paper, it warns: "Don't park after me or it be your fault if hit you".

The Labour Party must think that the strange and the scary works, so it launched its own medium for showcasing it: It's called television.

The strategy is the ultimate in user-friendliness. No need to log on, type in passwords or any of that. Simply switch on the box and it all unfolds before you. This week, as I was zapping in and out, I locked on to an Alfred Sant interview on TVM.

It was clear he was speaking after the Labour Party's general conference. He had lost the pallor of his first appearance following his surgery and was looking well. The reception he was given must have buoyed him very nicely. Exhaustion, therefore, cannot be offered as the excuse for the bizarre scene that followed. Sant was speaking about his party's proposals for reform in education and other areas, the camera was closed in so it was not immediately clear what the programme was. Was this an address to the nation? So soon?

After a couple of seconds we get some more aperture and it becomes clear that the whole thing is taking place in the office of the Leader of the Opposition in Ħamrun. His interviewer, Lou Bondì, now appears. He is sitting and is uncharacteristically quiet, his hands are on his legs but he gives the occasional flap with his fingers to indicate he would like to, er, be part of this.

When the monologue ended, Bondì leant forward to put a question across. Evidently, Sant's monologue had not been in response to one. Rather than taking the question, the Labour leader held up his hand, smiled benignly and thanked his non-interviewer. When the journalist insisted, the party leader got up and said "thank you" again in a patronising tone that suggested anything but thankfulness. One of Sant's PR men then walked into the shot, unclasped the microphone from the leader's jacket and the two walked out of shot.

Bondi was now sitting on a chair all alone in Sant's office looking distinctly bewildered. He was not the only one either, I too was amazed. Who wasn't?

Sant is asking us to lead this democracy. Despite his 14 years at the helm of his party, he seems unable to understand that transparency is the only real rule of the game. That is, if I am about to give over to you my everything − my future, that of my kids, my job, my education and everything else a Prime Minister influences in this country − I expect you to be sensitive to my vulnerability.

If Sant won't take questions when his job is simply to criticise the way the country is run, what will he do if his job is to actually run it? Do you really want to live in a place where people you cannot address and engage are taking the decisions about your life?

Do you remember when Labour refused to take questions after its press conference on the Budget and the entire parliamentary group shuffled off as soon as their leader had made his statement?

Then the MLP gave a press conference on Sant's medical condition and, again, its officials hurried off before any questions could be put across.

Sant sits down with journalists and walks away when it's clear that they are not going to fawn and applaud. This happened not just this week but other times too, notably in an interview with The Times in 2003. After just 15 minutes, Sant decided he couldn't take it anymore and - hilariously - escaped from his own office.

Sure, in the coming weeks, Sant will cosy up for pleasant question and answer sessions with selected journalists. He will only do that if he feels unassailed and unreproached, comfortable and in control. But that's not good enough, is it? Escaping critics and evading debate is not a privilege that a Leader of the Opposition should enjoy. Much less a Prime Minister.