Two years in government and Robert Abela’s legacy adds up to a consistent defense of the criminal elements in the Labour Party and government, a constant defense of Joseph Muscat, salami-slicing Malta’s land to specific interest groups, rampant rent-seeking, and growing the national debt. He wants us to give him another five years, and for what? Robert Abela stands for nothing other than himself and his personal career. His latest attacks on the police should have been enough for him to resign, but instead, he is going to trudge on leading the country into another rule of law crisis simply because he wants to be the boss.
Robert Abela got elected as Labour leader thanks to the support of Joseph Muscat. His message was “continuity”. After becoming Prime Minister, Robert made no effort to celebrate Daphne’s legacy, neither did he change the Party’s discourse over her murder. The enormous swathe of publicly-subsidised Labour propaganda has successfully buried the political crisis of 2019 into historical irrelevance making it look simply like a glitch. Everything remains the same but faces change. In two years, none of the previous corrupt contracts signed by Joseph Muscat’s administration have been unravelled.
A Labour leader is always absolute in rank and file of the Labour committees and propagandists. The sanctification of a previous leader can be reversed as quickly as a new leader says so. Alfred Sant didn’t give a damn to the extent that he went down to the Dockyard’s gates in Cospicua and called Dom Mintoff a traitor. Robert Abela has done the opposite: he is married to the idea that his political survival depends on Joseph Muscat, so he needs to defend him irrespective of the political, legal and constitutional consequences. Indirectly and directly, Abela’s actions are strengthening Joseph Muscat’s position politically and this is the biggest treachery.
In 2019, the challenge for Labour rebels like me was to convince other Labourites that Joseph Muscat was a criminal and needed to be booted out. We didn’t get a majority within the Party to think like us, but we did convince hundreds if not thousands of Labour supporters. We also made many others think twice about him. Robert Abela has reversed all our efforts, purge many of us and is still trying to undermine the political fate of his previous political opponent and Health Minister, Chris Fearne.
Robert Abela’s life in public office is exactly what you would expect from a typical rent-seeker. Robert grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth and never worked an hour in his life, yet all along he was renowned for his stupidity. He entered politics thanks to his father, George and made his money from government consultancies given to the Abela family by the Lawrence Gonzi’s administration in exchange for their political acquiescence. Robert is a typical Nationalist rent-seeker, and the epitome of everything we fought against during the Lawrence Gonzi administration: a corrupt, upper-middle-class kid who is ruing the country with his own infantile and personal games.
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