I augur Dr Alfred Sant best of health, truly and honestly, because nothing comes in the way when it comes to health matters. I also augur that none of you will think that it crosses my mind to upset him in any way and let me assure you that in today’s contribution I mean to assess, in my humble opinion, the interesting development in the Malta Labour Party following Dr Sant’s hospitalisation.
I am not the one to say who shall stay in the Labour Party and who shall go – those are things of the past for me. I am out of politics and believe me, I feel good about it. But I can dare discuss the situation that has developed following the Labour leader’s sudden illness and its timing. For Gonzi, it was bad timing because for a while it might have disrupted all his plans for blowing the election whistle, and it could have given him a hard time revising the assets and faults of a new face in Labour’s leadership.
For Labour the timing is perfect. There is no doubt that Labour’s media are spinning the issue to gain more support for the leader and for the party. It is a pity that the medical bulletins contained no medical information but just skimpy news. If I am not mistaken, medical bulletins are there to describe what kind of intervention was done on the patient and how he is responding to such intervention.
So far we have had news of the latter only and it is a shame that information of Dr Sant’s ailment was given to us from a local newspaper, which has nothing to do with Labour, and not from an official source, as it ought to have been. Dr Sant is a public figure and as public figure, the public wants to know more about the kind of operation that he went through.
However, this week we had a breath of fresh air when the medical bulletin told us that Dr Sant would be able to handle the general election campaign, although I cannot understand how his medical advisers are giving him such advice when the medical results are not confirmed yet. May such results push the all clear button and let us pray for such, but I think that Prof Zammit spoke too soon when he assured the public and the Labour supporters that Dr Sant will be fit to lead Labour in the upcoming general elections.
A general election is no joke: it is a very, very strenuous affair and for Labour to offer up Dr Sant as the sacrificial lamb is very cruel indeed. I do not know if Prof Zammit knows what it takes to run for government especially when the election is on our doorstep and Dr Sant will definitely need more time to recover 100%. But if his medical team is saying that it is ok for him to lead Labour then it should be ok for us, I suppose.
Because who of the deputy leaders or anybody else is willing to do so, that is, conduct Labour’s campaign in these elections as acting leader? Nobody, I believe, is willing to take the challenge as acting leader because it is a sword that cuts both ways: if Labour wins, Dr Sant will get the prize; if Labour loses, Dr Sant will get the prize as well as he is not to blame and the acting leader will bear the brunt. It is therefore obvious that there will be nobody acting as leader of the Malta Labour Party in the election campaign: it has to be either Dr Sant or a new leader.
But Labour has assured us that Dr Sant is there to stay and it is no wonder that the man in the street is asking: let us assume that Labour and Dr Sant make it to Castille and Labour wins the general elections, will his health allow him to cope with the pressures of the office of the Prime Minister? This is a question that I was asked many times this week and it is the answer that Labour must provide because the people do not want to know only if Dr Sant is fit for work during the general election campaign but also if he will be fit afterwards: people do not want a replica of 1998, which of course was for another reason but where the end result will practically be the same.
I am sure that Gonzi is in a dilemma at this moment in time: on the one hand he has to show compassion in the situation and on the other, he is still being faced with criticism by the Leader of the Opposition in his weekly contributions in the local and Sunday newspapers. But since Dr Sant’s medical team assured us that it would soon be business as usual for Dr Sant, then I see no reason why Gonzi should not blow the whistle and announce the election date.
I believe that he cannot procrastinate any further but at the same time, he has to be very careful in his dealings with the leader of the Malta Labour Party, in that now the people see in him a person who has undergone a major surgery and who should be treated with velvet gloves for fear of being labeled as insensitive to the sick. On the other hand, if Sant is willing to go to the election arena, he has to go through it as a gladiator and not as the sacrificial lamb.
The present situation definitely makes a very interesting case study to journalism and public policy and political science students as many questions crop up: did Dr Sant do the right thing when he decided to stay at the helm? Did Labour do the right thing when it allowed Dr Sant to sacrifice his health in these general elections? Does the situation call for a change in leadership, or is this bad timing? How will Gonzi cope with the situation when his opponent has just had a major surgery? Will he be that or less aggressive for fear of being labeled insensitive to sickness? Is it right to call the election date now having been assured by Dr Sant’s medical team that he is going to be ok or wait another while? We shall wait and see.