This paper has had a number of pieces, cartoons included, over the past couple of weeks seeking to criticise the decision of the leader of the Nationalist Party to vote in favour of the retention of the derogation allowing spring hunting in Malta.

This has intrigued me on a number of levels and has persuaded me that a number of us certainly have a very unique view of life. I say this for many reasons.

In any normal country the question put to the electorate would not have been politicised. That is what ought to have occurred here too because politics should have been left completely out of this equation and the citizens of this country ought to have been left to their own to decide for themselves whether they wish to support the derogation or whether they considered that it was high time to get rid of it.

That is what ought to have happened. However, the Prime Minister was going to have none of that and it was he himself who rather than follow that path, opted instead to catapult this affair into the political arena.

Why did he do it? In my view, it was totally engineered in the hope (probably in the belief even) that the Leader of the Opposition would vote against the derogation which would have given him the ammunition to hit out at what would have been sold by him and announced from the roof tops as complete and absolute inconsistency by the leader of the Nationalist Party.

And this is why I say this country has an extremely unique view of life because rather than chastise and criticise the instigator of the entire situation – i.e. – the Prime Minister, it has a go at the Leader of the Opposition!

Simon Busuttil’s decision on spring hunting has ensured that politics has been totally removed from the equation

Rather than putting the Prime Minister on the spot in the first place for allowing some hunters to ride roughshod over the conditions and criteria tied to spring hunting, therefore leading to the very demand for the referendum, it has a go at the Leader of the Opposition! Rather than taking the Prime Minister to task for going out of his way to ensure the referendum does not happen at all, it has a go at the Leader of the Opposition! What kind of warped logic is this?

As the leader of the party which fought so hard against all odds, including hunters, to get Malta into the EU, which effort included obtaining the derogation, it would have been totally unacceptable for the present leader of that same party to vote today against that same derogation, no matter what anyone says.

This is what was advocated by the party structures and that was the view expressed by the vast majority within the same party structures. To look at it any other way is with the greatest respect naïve and void of the realities on the ground.

In fact, had the Leader of the Opposition opted to vote against the derogation, within hours the issue would have ceased to be about whether or not the citizens of this country want or do not want spring hunting to continue, but it would have been all about politics and voting not for what you believe in but on party lines.

What Simon Busuttil’s decision has ensured is that politics has been totally removed from the equation so that now, each and every person in Malta can really and truly express their view on whether they wish spring hunting to remain or whether they wish it to be discontinued.

And what is so wrong with that? If you ask me, that is exactly what it should be all about, that is exactly what it should always have been about and that is exactly what the Prime Minister did not want.

The Prime Minister, by making that particular first call, wanted to achieve the opposite in the hope that people would indeed vote on strict party lines. Well, the Prime Minister’s little plan has backfired and, thanks to the Leader of the Opposition, we can decide for ourselves exactly as we want.

Contrary to the view of the authors of the pieces I have referred to above, I think that was very bold, I believe that showed true leadership and I believe that is precisely the stuff I want my leader to be made of.

Thank you Dr Busuttil for giving the people the opportunity to vote for what they truly believe in.

Ann Fenech is president of the executive committee of the Nationalist Party.