Do our youth need Labour?

I won’t say “certainly not”. I’ll say “I don’t think so”. In that way I will be moderate, if not progressive. For Joseph Muscat’s latest political ploy is pathetic, not to say insulting (to be moderate again). He tells us that he will guarantee (a word I don’t like, because one can never guarantee anything, and we lawyers are very careful not to do so, especially with regard to the outcome of a court case) that 16-year-olds who do not want to continue with a tertiary education will be provided with jobs. There are two reasons why this is the latest in a series of political gaffes.

(Franco Debono) seems to have toppled Labour from its pedestal- Austin Sammut

One, if there is a sector (among others, but not all, of course) where a Nationalist government has delivered, not 100 per cent, but over, it is the education sector. We have new government schools and colleges (please note Franco Debono that colleges are not so bad – I am a proud Old Edwardian) all over the island. We have second to none IT, which equals computers, at all grades, from primary level upwards. We have a free university, with generous stipends – something we fought for and were beaten up for in the 1970s by Labour Party thugs and unscrupulous police.

We have an MCAST which knows no limits, neither in opportunities nor in physical space, with a new complex being developed which will be second to none. This also applies to our university which has grown to proportions (mind you, not yet enough) beyond our dreams, both in numbers and in facilities), when students were restricted by Dr Muscat’s predecessors from joining university in the 1980s, with the usual socialist systems – in that case “student-ħaddiem”. In the short Labour interlude of 1996-1998 we had a minister threatening the stipend system. I could go on and on.

Two, we all know, both because we were young ourselves and because we have children, that prolonged education and studying is not particularly attractive to vibrant (and often presumptuous) 16-year-olds. So, offering them a carrot not to continue with tertiary education is, to say the least, irresponsible. It will lead to an erosion of what has been carefully built up over the last decades, and, to be moderate again, not necessarily by Nationalist governments alone. For goodness sake, is Labour so desperate as to descend to these levels? No, our youth do not need Labour. They are very well cared and catered for, without taking on new fads. They do not want to be herded into some new “student-ħaddiem” system at the age of 16. Dr Muscat, try another one please.

Which leads to me commenting on my comment about Labour being desperate. And there are two points on this. One is that they shouldn’t be leading the polls, as they are, with a very comfortable majority. But, two, they have gone overboard on Dr Debono’s position (moderate again – I didn’t say “antics”). Dr Muscat was convinced, it seems, that the government would be toppled by Dr Debono’s vote. But his strategists (if he has any besides himself) went seriously wrong. The money bills, which are the only bills which signify a vote of confidence or otherwise, besides a direct vote of no confidence itself, went through last week.

I am glad to see that Dr Debono, as he had declared up front, was consistent on this and voted in favour. This says much for him in his present situation. I have criticised him before, and we have spoken, but I remain convinced that he will not topple this government of which he forms part. In some way he seems to have toppled Labour from its pedestal. He led them to peak months before a general election. There is a very vulgar expression to describe what happened to Labour, which I obviously will not use, and my editor would certainly not allow me to do so. We’ll wait and see.

Which further leads me to the Carm Mifsud Bonnici and Richard Cachia Caruana votes. I had the pleasure last week (I mean it, and not for the first time) to be hosted by that nice lady on One TVs TX. I had with me – or they had me with them, because I am always outnumbered – an old acquaintance and colleague in 1970s’ parliamentary journalism, Frans Ghirxi, and a colleague in the legal profession, the affable Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi. The debate was civilised at least. But, I would like to repeat the gist of a couple of points I made (among a number of others). The Labour Party (and here I repeat) has been very keen to peg itself to the positions taken by Dr Debono, in that it has moved motions of no confidence in Dr Mifsud Bonnici and Mr Cachia Caruana, two of his pet hates.

I suppose that if Dr Debono launched some sort of attack on me, then Labour would move a vote of no confidence in me for being a Maltese citizen. Every time Dr Debono criticises somebody, Labour will jump onto his band wagon with a motion for a vote of no confidence. But, whatever the predictors of doom and gloom may believe (and I expect better from lawyers) the appointment and removal of a minister is absolutely the Prime Minister’s prerogative, as the constitutionally appointed head of the government, and the appointment and removal of an ambassador would normally (and I am presuming) be endorsed by the Cabinet of ministers or the Prime Minister on the recommendation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

If the vote of no confidence against these two gentlemen goes through, then constitutionally (and I stress “constitutionally”) the government will obviously have to take note, but neither will the government fall, nor will they have to be removed. Having said that, the motions were not moved by Dr Debono, so he is not bound to vote in favour.