The top concerns in Malta at the moment are traffic, the environment and good governance. Both the PN and the PL are performing miserably on these three issues, so much so, that these issues are of national concern in the first place. If they were not weak spots in the history of current and past administrations, they would not be registered as popular concerns. They are concerns because they are overlooked. The environment is even more of an issue among Labour voters than Nationalist ones.

So why is that both PN and PL ignore these issues? It is because traffic solutions which are genuine and long term must discourage car use, and will therefore be electorally unpopular. As for the environment, it seems that people somehow do not realise that to save the environment, you have to stop voting for the people who are paid to destroy it.

On the subject of good governance, both main Parties refuse to argue for serious institutional reform. The PN's Public Administration Act in 2006 would have paved the way for a meritocracy, but it did not implement the relevant articles. The PN is silent on the true substance of good governance, though they like to pretend otherwise.

The main problems in this country are the main problems exactly because they do not fit in with the agendas of the Labour or Nationalist Parties. Furthermore, these issues are moral ones, too. Even if certain decisions are not electorally popular, they are crucial for the wellbeing of the country. Pursuing such paths provides credibility.

However, as long as the system of clientelism prevails, it will be hard to address the main problems Malta is really facing. So long as permits are granted as favours, so long as people who do not deserve certain jobs get them as rewards, and many more problems besides, then the government will always have a siege mentality, holding on to power it does not deserve.

It is time to stop this cycle of self-destruction, which is putting us in conflict with Europe and with each other. With its majority, the government can afford to make a few risky choices which will benefit everyone.

 

Mr Alden is the deputy leader of Partit Demokratiku