Caruana's Tsunami

The CARUANA edifice from which the law, power, influence and affluence emanates is a burden of disguised oppression, arrogance, unfairness and a hindrance to the rest of Gibraltar's development and advancement. It is a fragile and weakened democracy for the great majority of citizens. It is an appeasement to Spain.

Well gone are the days of CARUANA'S proclamations to get into power and fickle promises they have turned out to be in hindsight. Everyone now realises that. The promises are now to desperately keep that exalted position.

Huge statements and desperate promises for the  sake of getting into power and having secured the seat at No. 6 CARUANA has delved in an aggressive and sustained media campaign using taxpayers' money at selling the public an image. It is the CARUANA image which has turned out to be a mirage for the great majority of the Rock's native inhabitants and the Rock itself.

CARUANA'S philosophy of local government is not new. In a notable debate in the House of Assembly in 1986, the then Chief Minister mistakenly exemplified that same philosophy [underlined]:

"That we are drifting further and further apart, I said the other day in Panorama, in an interview, that Mr Bossano and I, the differences such as they are were naturally likely to be sharpened by the struggle for power, this is natural. I will remind Mr Feetham that the people who elected him to be on that side did not vote for me, they voted for him and our loyalties lie to a different group of people. My loyalties since I was ten years old when I couldn't vote but since 1963 since I have been a member of the AACR, my loyalties have been to the AACR and to the people who vote for me. If in the exercise of my responsibility towards them I have to drift further apart from Mr Feetham, well, I think it is just too bad, it is indicative of the fact that we do sit on opposite sides of the House and not on the same side".

He was fundamentally mistaken in one respect. He also had the constitutional duty to govern favourably for those that did not vote for his party above perceived party loyalties and responsibilities. CARUANA too has failed in that respect.

The then Chief Minister explained further, now introducing a new dimension to the argument, which is not new to CARUANA'S philosophy of local government or foreign policy in an attempt to justify his government's policies .

"And, at the end of the day, each of us has got to follow the course of action and take the decisions that we consider to be in the best interests of the people that we represent and of Gibraltar but at the same time respecting each other for having different points of view. Beyond that, I don't think we can go".

For 11 years the public has been offered a stark fearful choice. You had the choice of going along with the CARUANA flow or you drowned or were drowned.

The flow has become a CARUANA tsunami.

The prospects of money, status and power attract loyalties and votes but invariably they prove short lived. It is the way you govern and treat the public in all sectors and at large that generally counts. It is the way you govern and treat your homeland that counts.

CARUANA'S philosophy of local government has been exclusively CARUANA orientated and aggressively exclusionary and damaging of all else. CARUANA'S concept of ‘Gibraltar', by necessary implication and on foreign policy, has proved itself to be extremely narrow, limited and unrepresentative.

This Rock is very politically sensitive, sharp and astute. It has proved it time and again. It knows that CARUANA'S philosophy is not a government of all and for all or for the whole of Gibraltar despite this being a small community. Concessions have been given to Spain.

When the interests of the Rock of Gibraltar and the majority of its people are at risk it is time to bid goodbye to whoever sits at No.6. This is not new either. This time it is Peter Caruana.