Listening to what the Prime Minister had to say to his followers on the eve of Independence Day disturbed me quite seriously. For he either really believes in what he is told and finds no problem in foddering it back to his faithful, or he is taking the same crowd for a ride.

On the eve of a National Day one would have expected the Prime Minister to rise to such an occasion and to deliver a “national” speech, at least hinting on the need for national unity, on the need for find new ways of co-operating, or as he puts it, new ways of making politics.

But no. On the contrary, he seems to have found a new skill in delivering colourful words that make his speeches full of unnecessary adjectives and name-calling. This masquerade might fit very well into his party activities, but beyond that, it also shows the weakness of his administration in dealing with the serious problems facing us.

For one, he tried to ridicule our criticism of the SmartCity project. He embarked on the notion that we cannot calculate simple mathematics and that percentages confuse us. Not so. Labour is here crystal clear in its thinking and understanding of the issue; it’s the Nationalist administration that has tried to show one thing for another.

Just before the local council elections last March, we were presented with a project so promising with ICT jobs that everybody had to calculate any criticism. With the passage of time and after political pressure, the plans saw the light of day. And we are now presented with a completely different scenario. From an ICT project to real estate speculation.

This however does not seem to bother the Prime Minister. For him, any economic initiative is a sustainable investment. But is real estate on public land the type of sustainable investment we are really looking for as an economy?

In the same speech, he also feebly tried to woo the environmental organisations telling them that they had every right to protest against the extension of building zones. Was it however, just the environmentalists, or was it nearly all the civil society, that were against the extension of the building zones?

Isn’t this a clear message from the Nationalist administration that some interests are more important than the values and opinion of the vast majority? This also brings to light one very serious issue that is bothering us all. Is the Nationalist administration so dry of ideas of sustainable development projects, that it is investing all its energies to propagate only a climate of unsustainable real estate development?

The Prime Minister also appeared not to be in a very celebratory mood. The energies he is spending in painting a surreal scenario are failing and failing fast.

If everything is as rosy as he tries to put it, why are our economic indicators so worrying? Why are our social conditions deteriorating so fast? On the economic side, the date of accession to the euro apparently is now also in question, due to the current high levels of inflation our economy is suffering, something which has been caused by gross economic mismanagement over a long period of time.

This is something, which cannot be addressed by the usual statistical management, or by a few propaganda speeches. What about the mess in tourism and so many other important issues? Ideas on the management of such problems would have been more appropriate on the occasion.

Indeed, the Maltese and Gozitan people deserve much better. That is why they are looking forward to a Labour government; a government that will bring the much needed change for the better.

michael.falzon@

mlp.org.mt

Dr Michael Falzon is the MLP Deputy Leader for Party Affairs