It was time for sweet revenge for Alfred Sant who faced the government bench after being repeatedly vilified in the past weeks.
Sant’s blitz on Lawrence Gonzi’s ministers worked wonders on television, getting all the reaction shots he wanted from the PBS cameras who instantaneously zoomed on each minister named by Sant in a list of corruption and bribery scandals.
Sant was regaled by the spectacle of Ninu Zammit gesticulating wildly as he pounced on his Lm70,000 compensation for a strip of expropriated land. He took sweet revenge on Austin Gatt who was caught on film fuming like a volcano before eruption, as Sant pounced on one of his underlings at PBS.
Even Tony Abela looked stunned as Sant ridiculed him for receiving the army’s “royal salute” and for working as a “part-time notary in Castille”.
Never referring to Gonzi by name, preferring instead to call him “the present Prime Minister”, it was a phrase which emphasised the ephemeral nature of the present government. But this did not prevent him from taking several digs at him.
“Maybe he needs goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon next to him rather than Michael Mifsud to protect himself from his ministers’ own goals” – who said that Sant lacks a sense of humour?
His underlying message was that despite a generous budget, a future Labour government led by him would still do much better. His repeated reference to a “future Labour government led by me” gives the impression of a politician who is in control of his underlings. And he surely strikes a chord with his “zero tolerance” policy towards any errant ministers in his future cabinet.
History is on Sant’s side. Even present MLP deputy leader Charles Mangion was removed for a small misdemeanour back in 1997 when Sant was Prime Minister. Pity that as Sant was trying to project the virtues of sound management, right behind him and constantly in vision one could see his less illustrious backbench consisting of Silvio Parnis, with hair gelled like a bird’s nest, and the untiring moral crusader Adrian Vassallo.
In marked contrast with most of his backbench Sant assumed the posture of the Maltese version of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, as a politician who dares to win. He took a cue from French President Nicolas Sarkozy by aping his proposal to exempt tax on overtime, a measure proposed by the French “droite” to reward hard work and kick-start economic growth. The measure was ironically scorned by the French “gauche” who saw it as a disincentive for the creation of new jobs. Sant’s proposal could effectively encourage employers to employ their workers for longer hours rather than resorting to hiring less motivated part timers.
But Sant also took a cue from Segolene Royale’s dig at Sarkozy in their final televised debate in the French elections. Accusing Gonzi of “political immorality” for promising breast cancer screening when he fully knew that the country lacks the expertise to provide the service, Sant took a pause, changing his mocking voice to a sterner one:
“It is immoral… to come to parliament promising something so serious and important like this… to give hope and courage to those who are or could be unlucky to be affected by this cruel illness.”
It was a replica of Royale’s indignation at Nicolas Sarkozy’s pandering to the votes of the disabled in their final televised confrontation – “How dare Mr Sarkozy exploit the plight of disabled children for political purposes?” she asked Sarkozy who asked her to calm down. “A President of the Republic has a duty to be angry in the face of such immorality,” she replied.
Beyond appearances, Sant succeeded in articulating Labour’s narrative to counter Gonzi’s vision for 2015. The similarities between the two visions are obvious. Both believe in the trickle down effect of economic growth and both are competing in the dangerous game of who is the more generous Father Christmas.
By accepting all the positive social measures in the budget describing them as “too little too late”, if elected Sant will also have to spend an additional Lm12 million (according to Charles Mangion’s estimate) to halve the surcharge and unquantified tax cuts in tourism during the first six months.
What Sant is not saying is whether he will adhere to Gonzi’s target of halving the deficit to a sheer 1.2% for 2008 – a feat only made possible on a very optimistic revenue target of Lm58 million, mainly deriving from extra tax revenue generated by new jobs and investments.
Sant could still increase government’s expenditure while keeping the deficit just below the 3% mark required by the Maastricht criteria. But this would mean delaying the goal of balancing the budget, an overriding concern of the present government.
Like Gonzi, Sant sees no role for redistributive fiscal mechanisms like windfall taxes on banks or property taxes, even if he hit out at Gonzi for appeasing the “big bankers” 13 times in his speech.
Yet one clear distinction between the two visions emerged from Sant’s speech. While Gonzi seems happy with any kind of job created by the market irrespective of the working conditions offered, Sant wants to direct the economy towards the creation of stable rather than precarious jobs. With the latest statistics showing that part-time work is the main income for 25,066 workers, Sant’s words strike a chord with a growing category of workers.
“These workers can be fired from one day to the next. They have to bear all kind of pressure not to benefit from social legislation. They are even pressured to become self-employed to start paying NI contributions themselves,” warned Sant.
Sant’s answer to the plight of these workers is to revive the manufacturing sector which could offer more stable jobs. Sant’s challenge is to emulate country’s like Finland who managed to find their manufacturing niche in a globalised economy in spite of competition from south east Asia.
Ironically Sant’s vision is prone to contradictions. He first expressed concern on the “secretive” agreement between government and a select group of importers to keep prices stable until March 2008. Then he proposed extending it by two months. Like an army general on the loose, he is setting too many targets and timeframes which could prove elusive. But he gives no clue on how he will be increasing tourism to the 1.6 million mark and how to create 2,000 new jobs in current manufacturing and a further 4,000 jobs in new investment in three years.
Sant also made it clear he does not give a damn about the green vote, suggesting the ludicrous idea of a public private partnership to develop two standalone golf courses in Malta and another one in Gozo. This raises the question: will a future Labour government spend taxpayers’ money to accommodate a few rich golfers and hoteliers? Just imagine how Sant would have reacted had Gonzi proposed funding the Xaghra l-Hamra golf course sited next to the Winston Zahra’s hotel, with taxpayer’s money. Yet Sant, who agrees with a golf course in Ta’ Cenc, seems bent on investing public monies on a golf course next to another private hotel.
Despite this serious pitfall he has managed to instil much needed optimism among Labour supporters after their hope was practically extinguished by last week’s budget. Yet, any repetition of his Birzebbugia performance would be fatal. If Sant keeps the posture of a statesman, irrespective of whether his audience is parliament, the Labour crowd or the Xarabank audience, he could still win.
In that way the enigmatic cat of Maltese politics would have succeeded in rising after two successive falls to live a ninth life.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt