While calls are being made on politicians not to politicise the oil hedging issue, and to steer clear of such a technical subject, we have meanwhile heard a government parliamentary secretary claim that we should go back to the time when the politician decided everything himself.

I personally think both extremes are somewhat mistaken.

While there is a distinction between approving hedging recommendations and actually ordering a corporation to hedge, there is also a clear-cut distinction between

having a minister adopt a hands-on approach and reverting to the old style of doing politics by having the minister act as the factotum of his own ministry.

What is definitely unacceptable is to delegate so many powers to faceless bureaucrats, who are often invariably political appointees, to the extent that they often run the show – sometimes behind their own ministers’ backs – without being either accountable or transparent in the conduct of their operations.

I agree that the politician should have a firm knowledge of what is going on in his ministry and that he should adopt a hands-on approach, particularly when so many quangos and regulatory bodies have mushroomed over recent years, only to prove impotent and ineffective in the conduct of their duties.

Unless the matter has been settled by now, we recently had the ironic situation where a regulator for consumer affairs was appointed to a top ministry post with the consequence that the regulatory post remained vacant because the government had simply failed to identify the right appointee for the post.

The unexplainable delay incurred by the Malta Resources Authority to carry out an independent audit of the way fuel-hedging arrangements were being conducted simply defies logic and common sense, indirectly implying as it does that someone somewhere could be interested in dragging his or her feet on such a highly topical subject that is costing the consumers – whether they are industrial or individual – millions of liri in surcharges.

Whatever policy we may adopt in the future, a Labour government should steer clear of practices that might have prevailed in the 1970s and 1980s, whereby ministers often went far beyond the mere setting and implementation of policy.

It all boils down to the choices that are often made by people leading certain government agencies and organisations.

Unfortunately, while a

certain degree of arrogance contributed to Labour reaching its nadir in 1987, many ministers serving in the present Cabinet seem to have taken on board these very same traits and shortcomings.

I believe this trait tends to emerge most clearly when a party happens to have been in power for far too long.

What ministers should certainly do is – apart from exercising caution and being judicious when appointing chairpersons of government agencies – have no inhibitions about changing the same people that they appointed if they under-perform.

I did so myself in a particular corporation between 1996-1998 and have no qualms or regrets about having done so.

It is useless talking about fast track procedures unless we truly develop a fast track in the way we run ministries and government departments and agencies.

Not only does bureaucracy create inefficiency but it also provides room for graft and corruption.

If we are going to have a more hands-on approach from ministers, it is important that ministerial codes of ethics should be updated and revised to meet current needs and standards.

What Malta needs is a more caring society but also a leaner and more efficient government. Alas, the Nationalist administration is not providing or encouraging either of the two!

The Maltese-Libyan Friendship Society

The committee of the above society, which is ably chaired by my friend and former school-mate, Dr George Cassar and aided and abetted by both the local authorities as well as the energetic Libyan Ambassador to Malta Dr El Shelmani, should be congratulated for the very pleasant “Libyan” evening they organised last week at the partly Libyan-owned Hotel Vivaldi. I was impressed both by the high turnout of active members of society as well as by the highly efficient manner in which the activity was run, primarily due to the hotel’s very professional general manager.

Let us hope that this society – whose key officials I met recently in Parliament – will widen their membership base in future by increasing public awareness of their activities and embarking on an intensive membership drive to ensure that they achieve their commendable aims.

Water Services Corporation disservice

On Tuesday, 18 April I rang the Water Services Corporation Technical Services Freephone at 8am. I was told that I would soon be contacted by phone to fix an appointment. I got the same reply when I rang again on Thursday 20 April at 3pm. By the time of writing I am still awaiting the relevant phone call – let alone the

service requested from the corporation.

It seems that the WSC

personnel concerned were still enjoying their Easter holidays! For fairness sake this in no way reflects badly on the employee who promptly answered the Freephone enquiry twice.

e-mail: [email protected]

Leo Brincat is Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and IT