There is an atmosphere of despondency on the local economic front. Interested commentators are beginning to speak out, and consumers and taxpayers are facing the music. Unless the powers-that-be face reality, something has to give.

Time is running out, and it is futile to run away from reality.

The first quarter of this year brought bad news – a negative (0.1 per cent) GDP growth and a 14 per cent drop in exports. Malta’s reserve assets dropped by over Lm 36 million during the January-March quarter. Operators in the tourist sector are bemoaning their prospects for the summer season. Preliminary indications induced some commentators to raise a sinister question: Is the government’s Convergence Plan target, of three per cent GDP growth in 2005, achievable?

The view is creeping in that Maastricht has never looked this far from Valletta!

Austerity programme

True enough, it was the Gonzi administration that drew up in haste a Convergence Programme at the bidding of the European Commission. That programme presupposed more austerity, when the economy was already with its back to the wall.

If the Gonzi calculations will misfire – as they may well do – the government will have to decide whether or not to impose even more austerity. If it does not, it will raise the ire of Brussels. If it does, it will invite the wrath of the business community and the electorate in Malta.

While it is true to say that the Gonzi Convergence Programme has precipitated Malta’s present-day problems, the origins of Malta’s predicament go back to the Fenech Adami money no problem years.

Baggage and Trade Mark

When Gonzi took over the PN leadership and was parachuted into the Auberge de Castille, he brought with him the baggage and trade mark of the Fenech Adami administration – of which he was deputy chief since l998.

It has turned out to be a veritable millstone round his neck, made all the heavier by a structural deficit and a burgeoning as well as unprecedented national debt burden.

For the average, hard-pressed Maltese taxpayer, the deficit, the national debt and the cost of its servicing are the visible tip of the iceberg.

The more dangerous and invisible threat comes from the deep-seated, festering incompetence which has been holding back progress and sapping our national resources.

Biggest white elephant

The Mater Dei hospital project is a monument to this incompetence in terms of costs and delivery. At Lml45 million (to date), this is Malta’s biggest white elephant and there is no knowing precisely what it will cost to run, when it comes into service.

This is but one aspect of a chronic hemorrhage that is afflicting our economy at a time when it is on its knees.

During 2004, the government spent a staggering Lm4 million on consultancies and an undisclosed patrimony to finance numerous agencies, whose running is entrusted to anointed individuals, who are having the time of their lives of the gravy train.

Some of these are paid fantastic salaries, far in excess of that paid to the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister. (One recently-appointed chairman is reportedly receiving Lm25,000 per annum).

Parsimoniousness

Meanwhile, the government continues to default in paying on time outstanding bills, running into millions, to importers of medicinals for government hospitals – and this in breach of the EU Late Payments Directive.

Although Malta ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in l990, it lingered until 2003 to enact legislation providing for the appointment of a Commissioner for Children. And when it came round to appointing the commissioner and the staff of three, it provided a measly budget of Lm10,000, no doubt thinking that it can fool world opinion by claiming that Malta is marching in step with other advanced countries in this regard.

State of play

These random, hard-and-fast, concrete examples illustrate the state of play in this hard-pressed, beleaguered island.

It explains why the environment has been left to its own devises for so long, why the air and various bays are polluted, why the state of so many roads is deplorable, why Malta’s heritage has been neglected, why the uglification of Malta has been allowed to proceed unchecked and why greedy speculators have managed to cause so much havoc.

On top of this physical harm, Malta suffered substantial social damage due to official lethargy and procrastination in dealing with problems of delinquency and other forms of criminality. It is only now coming round to tackle problems of child abuse and domestic violence, and is well behind in dealing with the problems of drug abuse, illiteracy, and civic irresponsibility.

There will be some readers who will consider the above as too black a picture.

My answer is that reality is tangible. It is not what I write or say that matters. What matters is the end result, after l7 (almost uninterrupted) years of Nationalist administration.

All those who lived through those years, and have eyes to see, are the best judges. And there will come a time when their verdict will count.

[email protected]