people

Labour’s fiery veteran

Photos by Paul blandford

Labour veteran MP Joe Debono Grech has come a long way since the infamous incident when he strung up a notice on his office door saying that Nationalists were not welcome. That incident came at a time when Malta faced heightened political tension.

When I go to visit Mr Debono Grech at his Birkirkara home his outside door is wide open.

I cannot help but ask him whether Nationalists are welcome. Mr Debono Grech laughs. "My door is open to anyone who wants to talk to me. People from both sides of the political divide come to my home complaining of injustices perpetrated against them. I have always helped people who asked me for assistance irrespective of their political belief."

Like all politicians he gets his fair share of people asking for things they do not deserve. Mr Debono Grech admits, "You do get people who expect politicians to be unfair to somebody else just to suit their needs. I cannot stomach such things and it is not the first time that people told me that they would not vote for me because I did not accommodate them."

Over the past months the Labour Party has been saying that once it is returned to government it will see to it that injustices against Labourites are remedied immediately. This position has raised a lot of concern especially when Dr Alfred Sant said that Labour would fight ‘tooth for tooth and nail for nail’. I ask Mr Debono Grech what he thinks about this position.

He does not mince his words. "If this country does not work as a family we cannot succeed. I strongly disagree with vindictive transfers and injustices, whoever commits them. The Labour Party showed that it could be done during its brief stint in government. When I was a minister between 1996 and 1998, in my secretariat I retained a staunch Nationalist who was an honest and hard worker. Today this person occupies a senior post with Minister Zammit Dimech. I had no problem working with him."

Mr Debono Grech adds that a lot of people are currently suffering injustices and this will have to be reversed. He recalls the time he was thrown out of his job after the 1987 election because of his political beliefs but he holds no grudges about that. "Dr Sant has made it clear that a new Labour government will not be vindictive. The country cannot afford this. Personally I will act as I have always done."

Mr Debono Grech is a fiery outspoken person. I wonder whether there are any party policies that he disagrees with.

"I do not mince my words," he said. "When we are discussing something and I do not agree with it I make it a point to express my disagreement. However, I always accept the final decision, after all I am part of the party."

I push Mr Debono Grech further about any particular policies he disagrees with and he did not hesitate in mentioning privatisation. "I do not agree with total privatisation. Government should maintain a majority shareholding in its companies. When most of these companies were created by Mintoff in the seventies he pleaded for business people to become shareholders but nobody wanted to run the risk. Today because the likes of Airmalta and Sea Malta are successful commercial companies people want to buy them," Mr Debono Grech reiterates.

I ask him whether he agrees with the Labour Party’s stance on VAT and whether this will alienate its own supporters. He has no qualms about calling VAT an unjust tax but he specifies that the current status requires a period of monitoring.

"VAT hits everybody in the same way. But the party still has to see where VAT is heading before taking a final decision. Government may have to change certain aspects of the taxation because of the European Union and that could change the whole situation. We also have to keep in mind that after the next election VAT would have been in place for at least five years, which makes it all the more difficult to replace," Mr Debono Grech explains.

What about the Labour Party supporters who have been hearing that VAT is bad for a good number of years now?

Mr Debono Grech replies, "They will understand our final position because we speak sincerely and say things as they are."

Referring to recent media reports about diverging views within the Labour Party over the ‘Svizzera fil-Mediterran’ concept, Mr Debono Grech shoots them down instantly. "The MLP executive, the leadership and the parliamentary group are all united over the party’s foreign policy. We do have differences, but that is a normal thing. However, we must not forget that even in the European Union not everybody agrees with the way the EU is developing."

The discussion steers towards Mr Debono Grech’s past. He recalls vividly the political religious battle of the sixties and all the persecution he faced because he supported the Labour Party.

"Today’s youngsters do not remember those times, but after every mass meeting organised by the Labour Party the church used to organise processions with the Our Lady of Sorrows statue to ‘bless’ the location. It was as if we Labourites were devils."

His marriage in 1967 was not uneventful either. Mr Debono Grech had difficulty in finding a priest who would marry him and his wife. The previous year he had contested the general election on behalf of the Labour Party. The Birkirkara politician, however, only made it to parliament for the first time 10 years later in 1976.

Mr Debono Grech is one of the few Labour veterans still in parliament. I wonder how comfortable he feels with slogans such as New Labour.

"Those who do not change become obsolete," is his initial reaction. Mr Debono Grech continues, "New Labour’s principles are still the same as those of Old Labour. We defend worker’s rights and uphold social juctice. As long as these principles remain the same I will always feel comfortable in the party."

I ask Mr Debono Grech for his opinion on Dr Sant and he is prompt to describe the Labour leader as an intelligent person with a sense of direction. "He is straightforward and always seeks the good of Malta first and foremost," Mr Debono Grech says. Dr Debono Grech admits that he has differences with Dr Sant but is prompt to add that politics is all about compromise.

"Dr Alfred Sant is more open than Mintoff, in the sense that he listens a lot. I can vouch that no law was presented in Parliament during our brief stint in government, if it was not discussed in the parliamentary group beforehand."

Mr Debono Grech professes to holding three things dear to him: his family, the party and his hometown, Birkirkara. I wonder what he thinks of the Prime Minister who is also from Birkirkara.

Mr Debono Grech states, "I do not agree with him politically but I respect him." Mr Debono Grech explains that he has good relations with Dr Fenech Adami’s son Michael, who sits alongside him on the Birkirkara football club committee.

Is it time for the Prime Minister to step down from his post as leader of the Nationalist Party?

Mr Debono Grech promptly replies that this question is best answered by the Nationalist Party itself. "I cannot tell the Prime Minister what to do but I believe that he is intelligent enough to know when his time is up. All I can say is that the Labour Party did not have such problems because both Mintoff and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici decided to step down of their own accord."

The Mintoff saga inevitably comes up. "I never expected it and I am still shocked by what Mintoff did in 1998," Mr Debono Grech reiterates. Mr Debono Grech does not hide his admiration for Mintoff, especially for the immense social changes he brought about in the 1950s and 1970s. "But in 1998 Mintoff lost it all. The Labour Party is sacred to me and during that unfortunate period he attacked the party, something I could not stomach."
Mr Debono Grech is confident that the Labour Party will win the next election. "We speak sincerely. People were promised a lot in the last election and the Nationalist government failed them. We are not promising extraordinary things, just honesty and seriousness. As time passes by, people are understanding our message better and better," Mr Debono Grech explains with conviction.

The Labour Party has been saying that it will not increase the tax burden when in government. But how will it control the deficit?

"We have to control expenditure by cutting down on waste and inefficiencies. There are a lot of little instances where money is sent down the drain."

I point out that government’s biggest problem is public sector wages and ask Mr Debono Grech whether the Labour Party will support the government if it stands firm and not give wage rises in the next civil service collective agreement.

"I cannot commit the party on this particular matter because we do not yet know what government’s position is on the issue. The problem with civil service collective agreements is that once the public sector scales are touched everything else is affected. In the civil service there are a lot of good workers but unfortunately there is a nucleus of lazy people."

Mr Debono Grech does not hide the fact that both Labourites and Nationalists did not want to work in his ministry. He will not tolerate people who skive from their work duties. "I am an early riser and hard worker and I expect people to give a full day’s work."
I briefly turn the subject to Mr Debono Grech’s other pet subject, football. He smiles and a sigh of resignation escapes. "Our football standard is very low and the number of people bothering to go to the stadium is continuously decreasing," he says.

Mr Debono Grech continues, "Government has just published a very good white paper on sports but at the end of the day it all boils down to the individual athletes and players."

I bring up the issue of corruption in football. The discussion is not very long. "When I see some football results I get my doubts. I believe there is some truth in the rumours of corruption that continuously surface after certain matches. The problem is how to prove the accusations," he concludes.

Returning to politics I ask Mr Debono Grech whether he sees any difference between today’s party candidates and those of his time.

The answer is a straightforward "yes". Mr Debono Grech believes that in his heyday candidates of both political parties had principles they adhered to.

"We entered politics because we loved it. Today you get candidates who before committing themselves to either of the parties evaluate their chances of getting elected. In my time candidates used to come up through the rank and file of the party, we did not just decide to contest. The situation has changed."

Mr Debono Grech is adamant about contesting the next election. "I will stop contesting only when the party tells me to stop," he says firmly. "Even if I stop contesting elections I will always remain in politics. It is part and parcel of who I am."

Once a politician always a politician and we expect to see more of Mr Debono Grech in the years to come.