The executive president of Din L-Art Helwa, Martin Scicluna, delivered an outstanding speech when addressing his annual general meeting the other day.

In his characteristic forthright manner, he held forth that the role of Din l-Art Helwa is to safeguard Malta’s rich cultural heritage and natural environment and that, to do this effectively, his organisation must be prepared to “speak truth to power” – however unpalatable that truth must be to those in power.

He explained that Din l-Art Helwa was conceived and set up primarily as a lobbying organisation.

“The art and craft of successful lobbying is both to provide informed and constructive criticism and to cajole and, if necessary, hassle and harry those who have the power to make decisions, affecting our daily lives,” he said. In Malta’s highly centralised system this is almost invariably the government of the day.

Martin Scicluna pointed out that Din l-Art Helwa has conducted its lobbying campaigns courageously, responsibly and constructively – never criticising without offering solutions, almost always in the face of government lethargy or opprobrium or even both.

In Malta’s highly polarised society, it takes guts to be upright. Martin Scicluna has plenty of it. This is explained, in part, by his breeding and his schooling but also by his experience of army discipline and government service in the United Kingdom as well as Malta.

Keynote speech

The theme of Martin Scicluna’s keynote speech was encapsulated in the words “Flash to Bang”, an expression used by gunners to describe the gap occurring between a gun going off – the flash – and the bang which follows. This expression is used metaphorically to describe the “flash” of a bright idea and the “bang”, when the idea is implemented. Normally, that gap is short. In Malta, it is stubbornly long. Sometimes, there is a flash and no bang!

Martin Scicluna took time to point out that “successive governments have been excellent at analysing our problems but seem unable to implement corrective action quickly, if at all”. There is much talk and many reports but not enough action. Passage of legislation and no enforcement of the law. There is a huge gap between analysis and action, between good intentions and implementation. He scored a bull’s eye when he pointed out that the classic example of this is the opera house site saga which, after several flashes of promised action over the last 50 or 60 years, remains unbuilt to this day. “No bang there,” he lamented.

Malta's predicament

This, more than anything else, highlights Malta’s predicament. The engine is not working and nobody in high office seems to care.

Malta is a parliamentary democracy where the body of citizens freely elects its representatives to administer national affairs. The majority in Parliament takes over the government under the scrutiny of the opposition. The executive (the government of the day) is accountable to Parliament and, therefore, to the people. However, although ministers are ultimately responsible, they have to rely on the civil service for the execution of policy.

This is Malta’s soft underbelly. The structure and machinery of government is weak-kneed, sometimes grossly incompetent, and, very often, unequal to its tasks. This applies, as Martin Scicluna points out, to all aspects of our governance as a nation and not simply heritage or the environment. Without mincing words, Martin Scicluna declared that, in these areas, we see only too clearly the result of a civil service culture and ethos which has raised obfuscation and delay, lack of decision and avoidance of implementation to a fine art.

These are strong words well said, which need highlighting.

Inside knowledge

No democratic government can operate if its public service lacks the will and the acumen to implement government policy. Martin Scicluna has inside knowledge because he has seen the civil service in operation from close quarters, having served at the Prime Minister’s office at Castille under two governments.

He has seen with his own eyes a clear disinclination to take responsibility for decisions, a shying away from taking ownership of projects and implementing government policy. He has no hesitation in saying that the prime deficiencies lie in public service leadership, organisation and coordination.

The service is, in his opinion, in need of severe electric-shock treatment – not yet another reform to set up a super-structure of well-paid higher civil servants, as has been proposed, but a commission to improve the ethos and culture of the service. One that delivers in terms of enforcement and accountability.

Irresistible logic

Martin Scicluna quoted chapter and verse to prove his point. He referred to the Cultural Heritage Act, which remains to this day a half-baked project, and to the National Plan for Sustainable Development, a concept with which the government has not yet come to grips after long years of incubation.

It is easy for politicians to say that forward progress could not be achieved because of the incompetence, reluctance or other inadequacies of the civil servants.

It is far less easy for the same politicians to explain why they did not hold the relevant civil service heads accountable or, failing that, why they do not take responsibility for their own shortcomings.

Martin Scicluna’s logic is irresistible. He is not satisfied with assertion. He cares nothing for the opinions of the great or for the prejudice of the many and, least of all, for the politicians who excel in the game of Chinese mirrors. His logic feeds his determination to make truth prevail.

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