Whoever holds a leading position in an important institution requires the grace of the gift of the gab and of deciding between truth and rumour. Officially uttered words have to be carefully balanced so they would not come to haunt the speaker in future. A person matures over time, encounters mishaps and ups and downs in one’s life. A leading person especially in politics has to evaluate the spoken or written speeches as they will reflect on the future of the followers.

Our islands have benefited and progressed tremendously since gaining independence and become a republic. Citizens’ quality of life has improved in leaps and bounds. Political triviality seems to resemble the tribal elements of the village feasts, where one saint is pitted against another.

Such triviality only lasts a couple of weeks, until the feast passes and everything returns to normality. Sadly this cannot be said of our politics and politicians at the present time. Previously I used to notice the respect that Dom Mintoff and George Borg Oliver had for each other. I remember the flow of contact between Ġużé Cassar and Guido de Marco, the latter also with Mintoff when things were really getting dangerous.

Fenech Adami senior also kept the door open between himself and Mintoff. While arguing and contesting political issues, the communication aspect was always kept alive.

Through this attitude our islands made tremendous progress. The normal citizen, while noticing the value of progress and who was responsible for the advancement, in reality doesn’t care who or from which side this progress came, as long as they and their way of life improves.

Nowadays political reality is sadly taking a turn for the worse because of local politicians. The rancour, insults, insinuations, mud-slinging – accusations on many occasions without any substance, validity or proof, are not only confusing the normal citizen, but also creating division between people.

The government has made a lot of mistakes but it has also achieved a lot of progress in many fields

Words are being thrown around, with badly chosen vicious words. For example, instead of saying “not saying the truth” the words “liar” is being used. These are the same but the way of projecting the meaning is different. Normal citizens are copying these phrases. One just has to follow the comments written in newspaper comments, Facebook and Twitter to see the reality of this.

As I see it the Opposition leader is setting a vision that it is only he alone that holds the key to the truth. He is projecting himself as the knight in white armour, riding a white horse and spotless. I think he really believes this.

One must know especially in politics that in the political arena, there is no white or black – but a lot of buts – and many areas of different kinds of grey in between.

A person, especially if he is in a political position of leadership, simply cannot make unconfirmed malicious accusations on blogs or newspapers as his own. No matter if a story is true or not, when mud is thrown, it sticks in some minds. Some would wish and hope that the accusations will turn out to be real and others for political gain would continue to give momentum to the rumours. The moral and physiological harm done to the individual/s concerned are not be taken to account. When accusations are made, it takes years (if ever) for the truth to come out. Until then, the shadow of doubt will remain on the individual/s. This is simply not correct and right.

With this kind of theoretic and almost fanatical position, Busuttil is standing on quicksand. Yes, the government has made a lot of mistakes but it has also achieved a lot of progress in many fields, especially with regard to jobs, social policy, health and financial investments.

Maltese and Gozitans are better off now than they were previously – as was also achieved under previous Nationalist administrations.

Thanks to our politicians our islands have progressed so much since 1964. Thanks to all political parties and visionary political leaders. When interviewed recently and asked if progress was achieved in our islands I just replied that a picture tells a thousand words. Just look at photos of Republic Street in Victoria taken in 1964 and one taken now. This street can show the progress.

The Maltese would like to see a more moderate political atmosphere. Criticism and a good solid opposition is a must to our democratic system, but with valid points and not vile and hateful comments.

In politics one should and must remember that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. What goes up must come down. We all must learn from this.

Lino Debono is a former Labour MP.