An imploding government

Article from Malta Independent.

No amount of cheap rhetoric and pipe dreams meant to create the image of a PN moving beyond its borders and into what is now termed Vision 2015+ will suffice to hold people back from realising that the PN is right on track... towards imploding in the very near future.

This perception does not only exist within Labour leaning quarters, but amongst floating voters, undecided voters, as well as those who might still be somewhat struck by voter apathy, indifference and disillusion.

In sharp contrast with all this, Labour continues to project itself as the party of the future. It is doing so by adopting a less confrontational approach than it might have done in past years, putting outreach at the top of its agenda.

Labour is doing this while making it clear that rather than moaning and groaning or resorting to a mere pathological assessment of the ‘political diseases’ that are tearing the country apart, it is now openly addressing the country’s needs and aspirations in priority order, while talking of opportunities, rather than merely relying on accounts of the threats that the Maltese are facing.

I was recently asked what it feels like to have worked under various PL leaders. In my opinion it has proved to be a sharp contrast in styles, policies, and personalities, that has left me feeling mellower and wiser in the final analysis.

Joseph Muscat has managed to build on the positives of his predecessors while going for a radical directional change of approach as evidenced by various polls that for the first time in many years show that the PL is being considered highly electable even by its harshest critics. He has managed to reinvent the party without going back on core values. Meanwhile he has reprioritised the agenda, by for example putting the environment on the same footing as the economic and social sectors, while making it clear that the PL is no longer just the party of the downtrodden. But also a party that represents and safeguards the interests of the upwardly mobile members of society, the middle class, those achievers who have made it on their own steam, as well as those who might be attracted by a number of single issues that the PL has brought to the fore and promoted, even if they might remain detached from the social democratic background at the roots of the Labour Party.

Every privatisation that has taken place in recent years has created more than a couple of hiccups. Some far stronger than others. This was even the case when a rather small organisation like Maltapost was sold to the New Zealand shareholders inspite of various negatives that were long evident on the web as a result of an ordinary Google search.

What I found even more worrying about the dismal EU funding saga, was not only the direct impact it had on so many students, for which one must read families – and not just the individuals directly concerned – but as the Malta Employers’ Association correctly pointed out, this botched affair showed that Malta is facing an alarming situation in the whole area of the processing of EU-funded projects.

No wonder they called for an overhaul of all existing procedures to ensure that Malta does not lose out further as a result of inefficiencies or excessive bureaucracy.

It was within this context that the MEA had stated last week that many employers are frustrated that they are left in the dark about their applications for training funds, and that they were not being given any feedback about a time frame when pending applications, which count in the hundreds, were going to be settled.

The fact that a similar situation also exists in many other EU projects, with projects being underway without the final contract having been signed with the PPCD, led them to remark in awe that this situation was dissuading many companies from applying for such funds.

Rather than merely trying to solve the Education Ministry tangle that has left so many innocent students out on a limb, government will be doing the whole country – and itself – a favour were it to take on board the suggestion made publicly to carry out an independent and complete audit to cut down on burdensome processes to ensure the maximum utilisation and benefit of EU-funded projects.

Signs of government’s directional shift towards implosion is also evident in the can of worms that has been unraveling in the law courts even in connection with the recent Gozo Channel saga and resultant suspension of a seasoned ship master.

Without going into the merits of a case that remains sub judice, one cannot dismiss lightly the claim made in court – rightly or wrongly – that captains with the ferry line were breaching international marine safety measures as well as that there was a shortage of life saving equipment on board, apart from the claim that water tanks on three ferries had become infected with the potentially deadly Legionella bacteria.

Even though to be fair the company rebutted such an allegation, there was no similar reaction to the revelation that a boatswain had meanwhile been employed on the strength of forged documents, that was not only proven in a court case, but which had also found the crew man guilty of forgery in April.

Although I was away from the island during the full development permit MEPA session on the extension of the power station, I was not only struck by the long predicted outcome of the vote and the biased manner in which the Chairman threw his weight in government’s favour during proceedings. But even worse that inspite of a specific claim by the case officer – on the basis of whose report the whole proposal was approved – that the Lapsi quarry in the limits of Siggiewi and which belongs to the Polidano Group as the site for construction waste disposal – it turned out that Enemalta had no agreement with Polidano Group on this matter after all. As the Group correctly pointed out. The reaction of the Freeport similarly showed that it was completely unaware of any future role it might have in the proceedings when it was never – in their own words – either approached or consulted.

Compounding all this with the erratic and incompetent manner in which the BWSC saga was handled, one begins to realise how correct all those who claim that the Gonzi government has long lost the plot might be.

I am currently awaiting a parliamentary reply to a PQ linked to the startling statement made in Parliament that the national energy provider Enemalta has spent a total of €10.2m on extraordinary repairs. My parliamentary question was whether such equipment was insured in the first place, and if so since when, and with whom as well as whether there was any call for tenders.

I am equally awaiting the Prime Minister – the same primus inter pares who had called on all his ministers to reply to PQs promptly – to spell out clearly what legal action has been finally taken against a particular mega contractor who was found abusing the waste disposal process. So far I have submitted the PQ at least four times in succession, to no avail.

While one would have thought that visa abuse sagas as had prevailed in our Embassy in China during the previous legislature would not repeat themselves, we now have confirmation of information that had come my way, that the New Delhi Police were investigating the involvement of Indian citizens, in the acquisition of visas, some of which from the Maltese High Commission, through the use of false documents.

One looks forward to the conclusion of the investigations by the Central Visa Unit if there were any procedural shortcomings to determine if disciplinary steps were called for, independently of the police investigations.

Although I will leave it to my colleague Evarist Bartolo to disclose the true reasons behind the tender call cancellation for a €8.6m e-learning project that was scrapped by government after a consultant appointed by itself was found to be connected with one of the bidders, yet again we are faced with a situation where the government apparently only found out about the resultant conflict of interest in May when the adjudication process took place in November.

Inspite of the fact that some felt reassured by Minister Gatt’s recent parliamentary statement that the ID card system will be overhauled shortly in time for the expiry of this legislature and with sufficient EU funding to go with it, there are still many grey areas that have not been addressed to put our minds at rest as to whether we shall have fresh biometric IDs and a cleaned up electoral register; primarily :

a) whether the unconfirmed report of EU finding will materialise?

b) by when will the funding take place?

c) what are the extraordinary circumstances that might hold the Minister back from keeping his word and promised time line?

d) Once the Minister has only committed himself to a 2013 dateline of full implementation of the renewal of the ‘expired’ IDs, does this mean if the PM may so choose to go to the polls by December 2012, not all ID Cards will have been changed by then?

All these incidents, glitches, dubious statements and dismal affairs, particularly when compounded together, merely go to prove that all this PN talk of generational change, responsible governance and timely decisive measures is all waffle that will hardly impress the PN delegates, let alone the discerning man in the street.

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