On February 3, 2013, Anġlu Farrugia, outstripped of his deputy leadership role in the Labour Party, gave the electorate a rare glimpse of what was going on in the sanctum sanctorum of Labour’s headquarters. He spilled the beans in an interview in The Sunday Times of Malta a few weeks before the 2013 general election.

Now fast-forward to April 29, 2017, barely two days before Joseph Muscat announced a snap election during a May Day political manifestation. That was the day when, on his facebook page, Godfrey Farrugia, another Labour MP, posted his resignation letter to the Prime Minister outlining his motivations for that resignation.

The interview with Anġlu  and the resignation letter of Godfrey may be considered as the alpha and omega of the Muscat administration. Anġlu’s may be considered as a prologue before the entire drama started to unfold, while Godfrey could be evaluated as a fitting epilogue to all that happened.

Anġlu Farrugia had stated that big contractors and businessmen had been getting close to the Labour Party.   He said: “When you see certain people getting close to the party, if they are genuine, they’re welcome.   But I fear the several people who wield power in the country – big businessmen and contractors – I don’t feel comfortable getting close to them for a number of reasons.”

He said that he feared the PL was changing its core values from a party representing the working class to one which feels more comfortable with big businessmen, including contractors close with individuals involved in Labour’s finances.

Farrugia said he was never personally involved with these people. He then made a stunning remark which, may now be termed as prophetic.   He said: “My problem with contractors is that it triggers fears of corruption.”

And he concluded: “There are some people in politics who don’t always take honest decisions.”

That interview should have been a clear and outright admonition.   A few weeks later Joseph Muscat made a massive electoral victory.

Anġlu Farrugia had said he feared the PL was changing its core values from a party representing the working class to one which feels more comfortable with big businessmen

Godfrey Farrugia, whip of the Labour parliamentary group, in  his resignation letter, gives the best dissection.  From it we confirm and learn certain particular traits of Muscat and the government he led.   He dwells about people chosen by Muscat as his nearest aides and how “the bad becomes good” and vice-versa.

Farrugia mentioned the shameful episode of the Panama Papers and how Muscat and his cronies obtained more power in their hands, and how,  under Muscat’s watch, the Labour Party lost its social fibre.

His main bones of contention are as quoted by him: “When we started to justify our blunders and reiterated that inappropriate acts were good, then it became a different story.”   He added that wrongdoing by the few was not stopped and this failed to unite the people.  The party had lost its moral fibre. Farrugia said: “I voted in Parliament as a whip, even when I was asked to do so against my conscience.”

After informing the Prime Minister that he was resigning from party whip, Godfrey concludes with the unequivocal declaration that people’s belief in Labour’s ideals should not have been betrayed and used to push the agenda of the few who did not have the national interest at heart.

If one examines closely what Anġlu Farrugia had revealed in connection with what the Labour Party was about, one may spot a number of parallels with what Godfrey Farrugia is saying now.

In 2013, Anġlu Farrugia had hinted that the Labour Party was being hijacked by a small group who weren’t acting as a workers’ party should.   He even stated that “the party could have a crisis in the continuation of these values”.  Godfrey Farrugia, on his part, confirms this theory and says that “people’s confidence in Labour’s ideals should have never been betrayed and used to push the agenda of the few”.

Anġlu Farrugia in 2013, said what was happening in the Labour Party may lead to corruption.   Godfrey Farrugia tackles this subject head-on by mentioning “the bad name Malta is getting at international level” due to what he terms as “the most new allegations”.    He  advises the “leadership” to stop using the people for the protection of its power.

Anġlu Farrugia also stated that, metaphorically, Muscat called him over and then shot him in cold blood.   Godfrey Farrugia was less dramatic, but equally lamented that he was made to vote in Parliament against his conscience.

What is the moral of this whole story?

American journalist E.W. Howe said that “a good scare is worth more than good advice”.

What about giving heed to  “good advice” this time?

Jean Pierre Debono is Nationalist Party deputy secretary general and a candidate on the seventh district.

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