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In the late eighties the Labour party set up an internal board coined as the Bord tal-Vigilanza u Dixxiplina to regulate misdemeanors. Party faithful hailed the move as the new era of accountability and transparency in Maltese politics.
In truth it was a reaction to the often exaggerated level of corruption by some senior Labour politicians.
Passions were running high that this internal watchdog would serve as a deterrent to protect the honesty and integrity of the Labour Party whose reputation had been tarnished throughout the eighties by political corruption and some not so uncommon bouts of thuggery.
Most observers believed that corruption was the key issue in the run up to both the 1981 and 1987 elections costing the party the election. Ironically the instigators to have such a board set up were Toni Abela and Wenzu Mintoff. They believed that the setting up of such a board would identify and rout out cases of corruption.
Ironically, this same board which they urged setting up was the same board, which in its first rulings, expelled them from the party.
Their campaign helped make the party more aware and sensitive to the issue of corruption, yet ironically the persons striving to clean up the party act were themselves thrown out of the party.
The whole episode turned out to be one of the darker chapters of a party striving to reform but unaware of how to carry out such changes.
This board was hailed as an exercise in accountability and transparency. It was a novelty in local politics, the intention being to oversee, control and make accountable all Labour members of parliament, local councilors and delegates of the party. To date the board has investigated many persons, not all of whose names have been made public. They range from dissidents, to corrupt officials and members who have ignored party rules.
The raison d’ètre of the board needs to be looked into and reexamined in a political climate which is far different from the late eighties. It is slowly but surely turning into a Pandora’s box, as difficult and unsuspected problems are uncovered. The board risks turning into a witch hunt by one ruling party faction against another. It is exposing the party’s big internal differences and divisions, at a time when the country is calling out for a serious opposition in a firm and credible position to offer an alternative to the present administration.
The whole episode is turning into a can of worms. Its role even in the election of the party leader in 1992 is to say the least is suspect where all too often the focus seems to be on the person allegedly misbehaving rather than on the act of misbehaviour itself.
The board risks achieving nothing accept in revealing the internal squabbles of the party. It has now reached the incongruous level of suspending Joe Zrinzo, the father of MLP president Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi. The issue goes far beyond the alleged plotting of the party member to overthrow the party leader.
What started off as an attempt to purify the party from acts of corruption has quickly turned into a mechanism for the ruling faction in the party to retain its control over opposing factions. Labour should either consider scrapping this divisive tool or alternatively should publicly make known exactly who is being investigated and on what grounds.
Secrecy is unhealthy in a democratic structure and only breeds further suspicion. It is time to take stock of the situation well before the countdown to the coming months which are expected to be overshadowed by the local council elections.
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