The Maltese electorate would dearly like to relax during the somnolent summer months. But the state of the economy, and the persistent high-handedness of a tired government, leave no room for tranquil moments.
The economy has been in the doldrums for years and languishes under a structural deficit and a mountain of debt. After 18 solid years of PN administration and so many promises, it begins to look as if the early foundations laid by the Nationalist government were built on clay – and the electorate is becoming more conscious, with every passing day, that it has been short-changed.
The prevailing investment fatigue, the migration of business to other pastures, the closure of factories and hotels, and the threat to job security of more and more workers, provide the incontestable evidence. The economic landscape is far from inviting. It justifies apprehension and calls for remedial action. Change is of the essence.
A lot has been said, by politicians, economists and other experts, to explain how this came to pass. Government profligacy, the cost of government, incompetence and the money-no-problem virus have all gone into the equation that dominated the debate. But the situation has been compounded by galloping taxation and rising living costs, both of which eroded consumer spending power and debilitated Malta’s economic sinews.
Reality stares the Maltese electorate in the face. It is the electorate, not its guardian angels, who must take the initiative. It must stop the rot, save what is savable and then proceed to build anew.
Common sense, as well as the instinct of self-preservation suggest – I would say, dictate – that the electorate needs a new pair of hands at the helm. The old team has been tried and found to be unequal to the challenge, and much less to its promises.
The last three electoral consultations, as well as private opinion polls, suggest that the electorate is seized of the situation and is prepared to grasp the nettle in the interest of its own survival. But the forces of the status quo will not give up without a struggle.
They will orchestrate a fierce rearguard action during the indeterminate interval between now and the general election. Although they will be operating from the commanding heights of office, their past record is palpably and demonstrably weak.
Their avaricious tax record has eroded Malta’s competitiveness and pushed hundreds of families below the poverty line. Once upwardly mobile, the middle class is being decimated at a rapid rate. The unemployment rate is shameful. The government’s incompetence has proved to be incorrigible, and its lethargy has become a byword.
Over and over again, they promised the earth. Instead of delivering, they led the Maltese economy to the brink and to Malta’s worst predicament.
The Gonzi government knows that it has been bequeathed a legacy equivalent to the kiss of death. The last years of the Fenech Adami administration were messy, clumsy and well below par. That was the time when the electorate started to become restless and the first fissures appeared in the PN edifice
The PN grandees had seen it coming and were well aware of its inevitability. They knew that their policy was leading them and the country into a cul-de-sac, and that they were going to end up without any banners around which to rally the troops.
Their strategists relied on their last card, which was “Fear of Fear”. They are relying on the bogeyman theory ta’ zmien in-nanna. (Ibezzghu bil-Babaw).
They cast the MLP leader, Alfred Sant, in the role of a bogeyman – a politician who could not be trusted under any circumstances, and a menace far more fearsome than another fumbling PN administration. Their watchword was “Better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t”.
There may have been a few takers when this scare campaign was first launched. Today, it is old hat.
Crying wolf no longer cuts any ice. The electorate now knows, through bitter experience, that when it voted for a Nationalist government, it jumped out of the frying pan into the fire.
There are, by now, far too many sobered electors who have been twice bitten and are now thrice shy!
A growing majority of electors is now dead set in its demand for change, knowing, as surely as night follows day, that even an administration intent on doing nothing more than roll back some oppressive taxes, would be a relief and an instrument of
liberation.
A government imbued with principles of social justice, and a will to promote the work ethic and the spirit of enterprise, is bound to open new vistas, and change perceptions as well as the economic climate.
It may be too early in the day to expect a detailed manifesto, outlining, in some detail, specifics for change. Indeed, the very earliest specifics to expect are how to stop the rot and to investigate its origins.
Without a clean and solid base, it would be difficult to build anew. But, with clear enough support, it ought to be decidedly possible to clean the stables and to do a better job, in businesslike conditions.
The aspiration for change is growing, and an electorate which is older and wiser, is bound to give it momentum.
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