If when together, all things become possible, how about starting with issues of governance and corruption? On such issues, the lead must come from the top; the "being together" represents a later stage. The current Prime Minister started out by saying that he would be implementing a new style of politics. On the eve of a general election, four years later, we still await signs of this style. In effect, what has been delivered is government management based on cronyism and inefficiency, hardly a good illustration of togetherness.
Today, the PN does its best to keep away from frontstage all serving ministers... The implicit promise is that should the current Prime Minister be re-elected, they will all be booted out. Here, the "together" angle is given a miss.
Curiously, the PN then projects its own worries onto Labour. They believe it makes sense for them to feature Labour's spokesmen on their billboards to mirror the absence of current ministers from their own propaganda. Presumably the calculation is that this would embarrass Labour. To the contrary, I for one appreciate their initiative, sure that as with many of the PN's recent propaganda stunts, it will backfire. Labour is working as a team. Our frontbenchers, backbenchers and new candidates coming on line constitute a formidable array of talent and experience who well deserve to be given the mandate to lead this country forward in order to implement Labour's Plan for a New Beginning. I feel myself privileged and fortunate to be part of this team. In our case without any doubt, through a team effort that will be real, not fake as in the ruling party's case, we will set up and run the programmes for change that this country needs.
Meanwhile, the current PM will continue to proclaim miracles to be carried out "together". He will shunt aside for the duration of the election campaign those he has been together with for the past 12 years or so. Indeed, presently... in a short while... when the elections are over... the same people will be replaced. However, this will happen through no act of his. Voters will take care of that.
On the economy too, presumably, together all things become possible. Why then has economic growth stagnated for so long? Why did the government remain complacent in the face of growth rates that lagged year in year out, behind that of other newly acceding EU member states?
Labour puts the attainment of real growth rate at between four to six per cent annually as a lynch pin of economic policy. This has to be achieved on a sustainable basis. PN spokesmen react to this from both sides of their mouth. They argue that our targets amount to a chimera, while also claiming to have already reached them. The truth is that in past years, so many resources were allowed to go to waste that a large-scale change of mentality is required. The current PM and his ragged crew are in no position to engineer such a change.
Lately, they have shifted to a position where they play follow-my-leader to Labour's initiatives in diverse areas like regional development, incentives to young couples entering the housing market for the first time, and measures to give local councils a greater impetus in their communities. Labour is confident that with the right leadership, economic growth can be boosted. What the government needs do is truly provide the space and encouragement for the private sector to expand and multiply its initiatives.
Despite the rhetoric about all things possible, it is strange that the current PM has not succeeded in mobilising the private sector to do so; perhaps he did not even try. Strange because most private sector business leaders are politically close to the PN. As we will be showing once the people give their verdict, as the Plan for a New Beginning starts rolling, the political allegiance of business leaders will be immaterial, when with goodwill they show themselves able and willing to go for growth.
Education has to be recognised as a major priority. We need to give children their childhood back, we need to give young people their youth back. Labour's proposals focus on a sustained improvement in the quality of the education that is given from the kindergarten stage, up to University. This has to be done in a planned way, following consultation with all interested parties, especially teachers and parents. And it has to be done in as short a while as possible, if we are to give our children and young people a good deal for life.
There is no other way by which we can hope to catch up with other European countries: comparative data show that we lag across a wide band of educational indicators. Yet, the current PM and his minister of education have blithely ignored this state of affairs. Indeed, they launched a malicious misinformation campaign against Labour's proposals as part of the Plan for a New Beginning, to bring the years of education and the structures at kindergarten and primary levels in line with present day European trends. Children should be given a well calibrated and consistent grounding in the basic skills of literacy and numeracy, while allowing them sufficient time to mature and without forcing them into cramming.
Shamefully, the PN and its propaganda machine are trying hard to make people afraid of the best European practice in education. In such a context, it is incredible that they still believe their slogans about togetherness will be taken at face value. Together, the PM and his henchmen have become their own worst enemies.