George Abela did, in fact, give Joseph Muscat a good run for his money. In the end, however, the MLP’s new leader is Joseph Muscat – just as predicted. Although, certainly not as easily as predicted.
This must be the end of the road for George Abela. At the age of 60, with a 34-year old leader at the helm, there are hardly any new avenues opening up in front of him. Pity! George must be the best Labour Prime Minister Malta never had and it makes a lot of sense for Joseph Muscat to use George Abela’s capabilities rather than consigning him to oblivion, as Alfred Sant did. Assuming, of course, that Joseph Muscat’s MLP will live by the dictum ‘no one is to be discarded’ (ħadd ma hu għar-rimi) rather than playing lip-service to it while doing exactly the opposite, as had happened under Alfred Sant.
The result is undoubtedly an eye-opener that bared the short-sightedness of this strategy. Practically half the delegates did not vote outright for the favourite candidate of the ‘party machinery’ – also known as Alfred Sant’s clique – without whose push Joseph Muscat would not have made it.
This makes Joseph Muscat’s task of reuniting and reinventing the MLP even more challenging than it ever could have been. Still, I reckon it can be done and Muscat could eventually deliver and redeem the Labour Party. The way forward is an uphill struggle fraught with hidden obstacles and dangers lurking in the shadows – a situation that makes Muscat’s task a very difficult one, but not entirely impossible as some would wish it to be.
Joseph Muscat is reported to have already a clear idea as to whom he wants at his side, abetting his efforts to work out his plans, even though perfunctorily he repeats that he works with everybody. Putting those whom he thinks would be the right people in the right places should now not present any unsurpassable problems.
The next step is for Joseph to somehow become an MP as otherwise he cannot be appointed Leader of the Opposition, a post to which Alfred Sant mysteriously clung on to for three months – only to resign from this post on the same day that the first vote on the Party leadership took place, when it was more than evident that his successor would not be chosen from among the ranks of the Labour Parliamentary group.
Muscat’s move to the House of Representatives could pose a real problem. Rumour has it that it will be Joseph Cuschieri who will be giving up his Parliamentary seat – one of the MPs who was elected via a casual election and whose replacement can only happen through the process of co-opting someone from outside the House. This way of doing things, of course, recalls the way Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici (KMB) became an MP, then a Minister, then a Prime Minister without ever contesting an election as a candidate. It seems that in the MLP, old habits die hard!
The Hon. Joseph Cuschieri MP has refused to comment on this possibility, which makes it seem that there must be some truth in it. This sort of ‘arrangement’ must involve some kind of bargaining of the ‘tit for tat’ type. Even the timid Pawlu Xuereb, who gave up his Parliamentary seat to make way for KMB, was rewarded for his generosity by being appointed Speaker of the House of Representatives and thence Acting President of the Republic.
Joseph Cuschieri is the brother of former MLP President and current busybody at the MLP’s Hamrun glass palace: Manwel Cuschieri, who is the most visible head of the clique that has been holding the MLP by its precious jewels ever since Alfred Sant was elected party leader. This, many might suspect, is the way the cookie crumbles!
It was obvious that, once elected party leader, Joseph Muscat will have to tackle the now infamous clique that supported Alfred Sant to the every end and that made it possible for Muscat to become leader. However, with Joseph Cuschieri playing the part of the sacrificial lamb, the plot thickens.
In other words: will Joseph Muscat be his own man? To what extent will he have to depend on the people who pushed the Labour Party up a blind alley under Sant’s leadership? He cannot ditch them completely after the push they gave his candidacy and the gift they are offering him in the guise of Joseph Cuschieri’s Parliamentary seat. Is it a case of the Greeks bearing gifts, as in the Latin proverb ‘Timeo Danos, et dona ferentes’?
Can Muscat pull the trick of cajoling these people into a working relationship with the defeated candidates and the people nearest to them? Can George Abela, Michael Falzon and Jason Micallef all actively support Joseph Muscat’s leadership? This is a tightrope walking exercise that could make or unmake Joseph Muscat. Being elected leader pales into insignificance when compared to the task ahead.
This is where Muscat’s immaturity might lead him into the wrong avenues, more so as with the way things have evolved, he does not seem to have any unbiased mentor who could guide him through the minefield that the MLP has turned out to be.
What this means, of course, is that Joseph Muscat’s election to the MLP leadership does not signify that the struggle for power within the MLP is over. Rather than declaring a much needed truce, the bickering between cliques could go underground making it more difficult for Muscat to douse the flames and start building afresh on a solid base.
The next few months will determine which way this struggle develops and whether Joseph Muscat will have the clout and the moral ascendancy to quell the raging waters into which he has now plunged with so much fervour.