A game this politican plays

Alfred Sant is insisting that a new Socialist government would adopt a zero tolerance approach to corruption. This promise is nothing more than one of his usual gimmicks, as it is made by the same Dr Sant who wrote an article in It-Torċa of September 19, 1985 in defence of Labour ministers who were facing allegations of corruption. In translation, he wrote: "Let them accuse the ministers of corruption, that their only interest is to line their pockets, and that they use their position for personal gain. And because human beings, in general, prefer to believe the bad rather than the good in others, some of the mud thrown definitely sticks. The private life of ministers therefore becomes the subject of defamation, machinating and gossiping".

The allegations of corruption had been going on years before Dr Sant wrote the article from which this extract is taken. It is a fact that between 1976 and 1987 the general perception on the island was that corruption was so rampant that it had become "institutionalised". To make matters worse, during this period there was also uncontrollable violence, beatings by the police during interrogations, murders and frame-ups.

In spite of all this, rather than condemning what was going on, Dr Sant, who was a member of Parliament in Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici's government, chose to write the above piece in defence of the ministers against whom allegations of corruption were being made. Today he and his party are repeating the same tactics they used during the 1996 election campaign, and are accusing the Gonzi government of corruption. They have picked a handful of alleged abuses, some of which had been uncovered and referred to the police for investigation by the government itself, and are continuously mentioning these cases as if no action has been taken. It is a true case of beating a dead horse!

It is evident that Dr Sant is being true to the last sentence of the quoted extract from his own article in which he asserts that because human beings generally prefer to believe bad things rather than good things about people, some of the mud thrown would definitely stick.

It is understood that this is a game, Dr Sant. When there is a Socialist regime, he uses the above-quoted principle which for me is an attempt to defend institutionalised corruption and when there is a Nationalist government he throws as much mud as he can at the Gonzi government, since he believes that some mud will stick.

For these reasons alone I do not believe Dr Sant and his party when they say they will take a zero tolerance stand on corruption.

There are other reasons why the zero tolerance declaration is just a gimmick, and these include the case of the MLP's deputy leader, who had himself said he was the victim of a frame-up in a moment of great emotion, and lately the Woods case.