Many of the problems faced by the current administration, which are only partially illustrated in local council election results, are the result of looking backward instead of forward, of thinking tactically instead of strategically, of introducing measures which simply defy the laws of gravity!
One example of this is the idea of controlling this country from one hub or, in more modern terms, that the country is a computer, which can be organised from the centre. This is the vision of the Austin Gatt side of the Nationalist Party that has caused and is causing so much harm, distrust and bad feeling among the country's leading administrators and others.
It's oddly also a throwback to the Mintoff years, Malta's only taste of real socialism where there was also this tendency to centralise. That worked not least because it was partly the philosophy of that era, because we were still relatively new at being an independent State so we accepted, or many of us did, being herded around in every area of life, be it as student workers or as members of Dirghin il-Maltin!
And this mania to centralise is not only to be found in Austin Gatt's Ministry. I was at the American Embassy on Monday night with a group of women the ambassador had invited to celebrate Woman's Day, and the talk was all, in the wake of the local council election results, of the frustrations of some of the country’s leading women in both the State and voluntary sectors who cannot move things, who see their independence being threatened, who see common sense being sacrificed on the altar of ministerial vanities, and who will not vote (although they want to) for this centralising administration while this attitude persists among certain key ministers.
In 21st century, post EU membership Malta, centralising is not always the best way to get things done. It wasn't the hallmark of previous Nationalist administrations either which realised the limited vision of having a centralised socialist State, and I remain baffled as to why it has happened this time around. It started in ways that were pretty innocuous and not too many of us noticed, because the manifestations were small and subtle. We knew there was a minister bent on change and regeneration, but few of us understood what this actually turned out to be in reality and in practice!
After all we are all busy beavering away in our own oysters and families, and very few of us were aware of what was actually happening. At PBS for example, some of Malta's best and veteran broadcasters had to go through the humiliation of having to actually reapply for their jobs. Was that really necessary? Tony Blair, another politician hell bent on centralising and controlling everything including people’s thoughts, also did the same recently with the UK health service, causing all manner of ill feeling and ill will from those who in turn look after ill people! A concoction for confusion without a doubt! What was even more humiliating at PBS was the inexperience masquerading as competence that interviewed these experienced Rediffusion trained broadcasters. Young kids who didn’t even know who these broadcasters were. Young graduates who didn't feel the need to do any homework because they were given the power to hire and fire without the sense of being able to do it well. These veterans of broadcasting were interviewed by fresh faced, no doubt IT literate graduates who made extraordinary decisions in some cases. Instead of simply setting out some deliverables, putting in good management and allowing PBS to improve slowly but surely from within, we adopted the Mintoff mode of thundering minister deciding on things which really modern ministers should not be deciding on at all.
Bottom line. PBS today is not a much better organisation, the news is not better and we all quietly wonder what all the ministerial trumpeting was all about.
Another gravity defying measure, and one which has helped in no small way to making the environment minister’s life impossible was the wedding of planning and environment known as MEPA. Joining these two entities or areas of responsibility was as gravity defying as they come. How can one entity be taken seriously when it’s the business motor of all our contractors on the one hand and on the other hand the supposed champion and motor of all our environmentalists?
It should be separated forthwith. Planning housing and land should be in one ministry. Environment health and heritage in another so that each area can grow and develop properly. This government can't understand why people are beating it up on the environment when it is true that some very important environment protection measures are being introduced and implemented by this administration. But the truth is that by putting permits for development and environment protection in the same organisation you are setting up an organisation to fail, if not in reality in the perception of it which is what often decides elections anyway.
And again in the newspapers this week we had a full page spread on some craziness to build a four-storey block in Lija near that historic Belvedere Tower! This is similar madness to building flats in the back garden of a listed house in a square at San Pawl Tat-Targa, again one of north Malta's beauty spots. Why we even let these applications see the light of day is beyond me. Why we allow the press to have such a field day and then give such negative PR to MEPA is craziness because it makes us all feel disgruntled even though there is no permit yet, and it will hopefully be refused!
So brave governments have to think out of the box, not box everyone into ministries where one minister’s voice rules supreme. That worked with many frightening consequences in the Mintoff era. It is not the modern way, whether you are red or blue. What is happening out there, with a full third not voting in local council elections should be a wake up call for all our political parties that short-term thinking and pandering to diehards won’t keep you in politics for very long.
You have to go with the flow; you have to read the gravitational pulls to survive in politics today.
[email protected]