As Robert Abela turns against his Police Commissioner for making him look like a fool, eventually Labour Party insiders will also turn against Robert Abela for bringing the party to the ground. The root of the problem is Joseph Muscat’s kompromat with Robert Abela and this is also the cause which put Robert Abela in the right situation to receive Joseph Muscat’s support and eventually become the leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister.
Those within Labour like me who had thought that covering up for Joseph Muscat and his friends was immoral and wrong, also understood that doing so would have been unsustainable politically. Sociologically, we know both by experience and by theory that society can’t function well if there is widespread impunity of political corruption because it would lead to a rent-seeking economy and widespread criminality. This is also why many who supported Chris Fearne for his leadership bid believed that the change that our society needed was overarching. Then when Robert Abela took office he started removing many of his opponents from Party and government positions to scare them into silence. He removed some of Muscat’s appartchiks too and left many others, but gradually replaced the system with his supporters and those who were critical of him soon feared him and fell into silence. I was back then, the only Labour delegate left speaking publicly against impunity and in favour of justice for Daphne.
Today, Labour is bleeding numbers in the polls and Robert Abela is being accused of covering up not only for Joseph Muscat, but also for criminals like Christian Borg with whom he was in business. Yesterday, it was also revealed in Robert Aquilina’s new book on the Pilatus Bank scandal that Robert Abela even specifically defended one of the bank employees because he was the lawyer of her family. And I am sure that we will learn about other specific criminals with whom Robert Abela was in business in the past that he is currently covering up. Gradually, yet surely, people are becoming ever more convinced that Robert Abela is in fact to blame for many of the states’ dysfunctions, and it will be Labour Party insiders and Robert Abela’s close circle of friends and allies who will mostly carry this conviction once Labour keeps plummeting at the polls.
There is a very distinct difference between the Nationalist Party and the Labour Party right now. The insiders of the Nationalist Party were able to stick with their leader even though he has been defeated in the elections, and this shows a certain resoluteness in principled conviction. Many Labour Party insiders and delegates, unfortunately, base their convictions on the numbers game and not on principle. And many who still held to their convictions despite the numbers being against them were too scared to speak out. Robert Abela could force his critics in the Party into silence, but this silence will be shattered when these individuals find their confidence once again as Robet Abela loses support in the polls.
At the end of the day, many in the Party will realise that all the theatre, propaganda, time and effort to sustain and defend criminals associated with the Labour Party was not worth it, not because it has torn society, but because it is tearing the Party. Joseph Muscat’s supporters aren’t increasing, on the contrary, so the odds are stacked against Abela. When the numbers dry out, Robert Abela will be abandoned even by his strongest allies because their power is not anchored by any principled convictions. Robert will be alone and he will be blamed for wrecking the Party.
Website Editor
Historian and Publisher
Leave a Reply