It has been a good year for Malta. There has been a record number of gainfully employed, an impressive list of foreign investors pumping more millions, a state-of-the-art hospital functioning in a most efficient manner, thousands of new graduates, the number of people seeking work the lowest ever, the tourism industry reaching record heights in numbers and income, and thousands thronging the main streets and spending hundreds and hundreds of thousands of liri or euros.
The list goes on.
Despite the usual shady picture that a certain contributor paints with nauseating regularity, the population of these islands know they never had it so good and that a lot more is in store for 2008 as the benefits that were announced in the budget speech assure people of more lolly in their pockets.
In his frantic efforts to push his idol of the Birzebbuga beach fame, one Zammit Marmara tried to belittle the great achievements of the Gonzi Aministration by mixing up the impressively high number of projects with a few which failed to meet deadlines. He ignores the fact that the minor Bugibba project which Labour brags about as if it was the eighth wonder cost 60 per cent more than estimated and was completed much later than previously envisaged.
If one is to be taken seriously, then there is no place for those who indulge in repetitive and unoriginal comments which most certainly annoy readers.
Desmond Zammit Marmara is just a playback of his master's voice, and that's why he does not mention, for example, the deficit registered by Labour in 1997 (Lm127 million) when it was eight per cent of the Gross Domestic Product and an even worse record in 1998 when at Lm150 million it was 10 per cent of the GDP.
Such facts and figures hardly encourage voters to trust Labour with the country's finances. And that is putting it mildly.
Comparisons may be odious for some, but it is worth mentioning that the Nationalist government's deficit for this year is Lm48 million, which is less than three per cent of the GDP.
Mr Zammit Marmara would do well to contemplate very seriously why the GDP actual growth for the last quarter reached a record high of 6.5 per cent at market prices and 4.1 per cent in real terms. That says it all!
These are facts that should convince him and his ilk that these islands are blessed with a firm pair of hands at the helm.