The present Nationalist administration has embarked on a futile exercise of trying, not only to persuade us that everything is OK, but that they are achieving “excellence”. Their idea of int@smart_malta as a slogan for this year’s independence celebrations is just another case in point. Unfortunately, however, this party and government carry a large amount of negative baggage, which together with present poor performances, map out a constant indication of very serious administrative failures. It is a far cry indeed from the excellence and elegance that they are trying to project.
In these circumstances, it is only natural that Labour is constantly indicating that the much-publicised ills of the malfunctioning Tourism Ministry are not an isolated failure of one ministry, but is symptomatic throughout the administration. That is why, for example, the pro-Nationalist media, hardly ever criticise the inter-ministerial limited efforts to get the tourism industry out of its present rut.
What about the Prime Minister, and the other ministries, what are they doing in effect? What is the benefit of their work? Has the situation improved? And why not? Conferences, meetings, replacements, plans, all the academic jargon feature prominently but not a sign of any improvement in our competitiveness with other venues, at least the Mediterranean ones.
It is this, among other things, which manifests grossly the inability of this administration to present a unified and coherent effort to get us out of this mess. To be honest, this is not solely the making of the present leader of the Nationalist Party, but a combination of administrative and thinking failures throughout. The making of this mess also knows its roots and causes to the inability of the past Nationalist leadership of the last two decades to develop political and economic strategies for Malta, aimed in order for it to prosper truly and evenly.
This inability does not only rest with the present Prime Minister and his ministers, but also with their army of consultants and experts. The latter’s fees have in fact, nearly always been a considerable expenditure for the government, with little, no results, or in cases, even disastrous effects (Mater Dei in mind).
In all this concoction we constantly come across the ever-present solution for this administration. Slogans. And the pounding of these slogans to deafening proportions, at times often using obsolete marketing techniques. Slogans, however, are not solutions. They are a medium, or a carrier of an idea, through which the owner tries to deliver and impress. And this is where the Nationalists are failing most.
The idea of ‘Brand Malta’ might in itself, possibly, be a good business solution to our depressing tourism situation. But if a brand is anything, it’s a complex indication of what the product you are selling is. And that’s the problem. It’s not the marketing and advertising only that are not professional enough, but it’s the whole product. Flights, hotels, sites, restaurants, taxis, roads, cleanliness and perhaps most importantly competitiveness, are among others, the quality parameters to support such a brand. In our case, we have done it the other way round. We started with the assumed qualities, and launched a branding exercise. Indeed, we are striving to build a pyramid upside down and the consequences are evident.
Another issue in this context is SmartCity@Malta or should I now say SmartCityMalta, the PR apparatus from Dubai has informed us. This brings the above argumentation in focus. A slogan says a lot. And a change of slogan says and indicates even more. Indeed, here, it is starting to appear, that the project is more of an estate developer’s dream; rather than the hype and spin attributed most profusely by the minister and his entourage.
The fact that only 19 per cent of the whole land allocation will be devoted to ICT activities indicates the proportionality between speculation and investment. This account can possibly have an even worse bottom line, when one considers that a substantial portion of the economic activity generated by the ICT portion, can in itself also be of a speculative nature. Try and find a balance between the hype and spin of the initial slogan of SmartCity@Malta, and the realities of the new concept of SmartCityMalta. Anybody’s conclusion is worth considering!
Finally, this brings me to the pinnacle of the activity of slogan misuse by the PN. The idea of branding Malta “Smart”. Words are cheap, as the song goes. Try and balance Smart Malta with the present political, economic, educational, cultural, and more importantly, social circumstances. The bottom line is the result. A poor one indeed. A Malta unfortunately falling apart. Brand Malta, SmartCity@Malta and now SmartCityMalta are actually just slogans intended to deliver a product counterfeit to the hype and spin affected by the propaganda machinery in Castille and Pietà.
The only thing that the Nationalist administration can say that they have been “smart” at, is taking the Maltese and Gozitan people for a ride, with disastrous effects on the country as a whole.
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Dr Michael Falzon is the MLP Deputy Leader for Party Affairs