I do agree that there is something politically unreal in the way Labour is acting. It wants to get to power on its terms and conditions.
Labour Party keeps shooting itself in the foot
An interview in the Labour Party’s newspaper with the man charged with drawing up the party’s electoral programme, Karmenu Vella, does not give one single clue as to how the party plans to tackle the island’s problems differently from the way the Nationalist Party is doing now.
Labour constantly accuses the government of being incompetent and that much of the island’s economic ills are due to its bad planning or to the wrong way it is tackling problems. But it has distinctly failed to show its competence by presenting its own workable alternatives.
There is something politically unreal in the way Labour is acting. It wants to get to power on its terms and conditions.
One such condition is that it chooses to hold on to its plans on how to govern to the very last minute of the election, that is, when the time comes for the party to publish its electoral programme.
So, do not ask Labour how it is going to address the people’s number-one complaint, that over the water and electricity rates; it will only tell you when it is ready with the answer. Do not ask how it plans to bring down the island’s national debt; that will be explained in its electoral programme.
In which democratic country is a political party aspiring to get to office allowed to get away with such a stand? True, all parties draw up political programmes at election time but they all explain their stands on particular issues over the time of a legislature and they all say how they will handle this or that better than their opponents if they were in power. But not the Labour Party, whose policy in this regard has now become a joke.
In his interview with the party’s newspaper, Mr Vella was asked to comment on the Nationalist government’s criticism that Labour had no policies.
Mr Vella replied that the criticism made no sense because he knew of no political party that contested an election without having a plan. That may very well be the case but that is not what the people are expecting of the party.
They want it to act as a serious opposition party and meaningfully take part in the country’s political life by arguing situations and suggesting how problems can be handled better than they are at present.
It is through such work that the party can gain credibility. It is on the basis of its performance in and out of Parliament, on the strength of its arguments and preparedness, that the voters would be able to assess the men and women who expect to take over the country’s helm from the Nationalists. The Labour Party is shooting itself in the foot because wise voters are unlikely to judge the ability of a political party to govern simply on the strength of a programme published just weeks ahead of an election.
Rather than taking the opportunity in the time left to the election to persuade voters that Labour is the right party to govern, it prefers to spend the time superficially criticising the government. What it should do instead is coming out with serious alternatives, based on studies and field work, rather than wasting time grandstanding. Were it to do this, it would set the country to really think about considering the Labour Party as a worthwhile contender to take over at Castille when the times come.
Labour constantly accuses the government of being incompetent and that much of the island’s economic ills are due to its bad planning or to the wrong way it is tackling problems. But it has distinctly failed to show its competence by presenting its own workable alternatives.
There is something politically unreal in the way Labour is acting. It wants to get to power on its terms and conditions.
One such condition is that it chooses to hold on to its plans on how to govern to the very last minute of the election, that is, when the time comes for the party to publish its electoral programme.
So, do not ask Labour how it is going to address the people’s number-one complaint, that over the water and electricity rates; it will only tell you when it is ready with the answer. Do not ask how it plans to bring down the island’s national debt; that will be explained in its electoral programme.
In which democratic country is a political party aspiring to get to office allowed to get away with such a stand? True, all parties draw up political programmes at election time but they all explain their stands on particular issues over the time of a legislature and they all say how they will handle this or that better than their opponents if they were in power. But not the Labour Party, whose policy in this regard has now become a joke.
In his interview with the party’s newspaper, Mr Vella was asked to comment on the Nationalist government’s criticism that Labour had no policies.
Mr Vella replied that the criticism made no sense because he knew of no political party that contested an election without having a plan. That may very well be the case but that is not what the people are expecting of the party.
They want it to act as a serious opposition party and meaningfully take part in the country’s political life by arguing situations and suggesting how problems can be handled better than they are at present.
It is through such work that the party can gain credibility. It is on the basis of its performance in and out of Parliament, on the strength of its arguments and preparedness, that the voters would be able to assess the men and women who expect to take over the country’s helm from the Nationalists. The Labour Party is shooting itself in the foot because wise voters are unlikely to judge the ability of a political party to govern simply on the strength of a programme published just weeks ahead of an election.
Rather than taking the opportunity in the time left to the election to persuade voters that Labour is the right party to govern, it prefers to spend the time superficially criticising the government. What it should do instead is coming out with serious alternatives, based on studies and field work, rather than wasting time grandstanding. Were it to do this, it would set the country to really think about considering the Labour Party as a worthwhile contender to take over at Castille when the times come.
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