As the day of reckoning for the present government is fast approaching, Maltese families will be asking themselves how best to address the various serious shortcomings of this administration for most of the past 20 years. While change is often uncomfortable to many who see safety in the status quo, it is often the beginning of a new more prosperous phase in our lives, if only we find the courage to look for alternatives.

It is for this reason that the electorate should stop blaming the government for its numerous failures, for betraying its trust, and take action to change it. This is the surest way of stopping the arrogance, insensitivity and indolence that has characterised the last phase of this geriatric administration.

Having exploited the popular yearning of the majority of the Maltese electorate for a better future through membership of the EU, this government is proving incapable of turning this dream into real benefits for Maltese families. This is so because the reality is, and has always been, that our future is what we make it. No membership of the EU will reap automatic long-term benefits unless the country is managed effectively.

But what we see today is far from being the result of an effective government. Just look at the way our tourism industry is languishing due to neglect with the Prime Minister unwilling, or unable, to change those politically responsible for this failure. It has become really pathetic to hear the pro government media blowing the trumpet, announcing a revival in our tourism industry because internal tourism was slightly better during the Easter season.

Our educational system remains the worst performing sector directly managed by the government. Low educational achievement will no doubt blow up any chances of high tech projects making a real difference to our families in the next decade. We need to change course immediately, and ensure that together with our educators, the leaders of industry, trade unions, and parents, we agree on a strategic review of our educational system that guarantees employability to our young people.

Our health system also needs to be restructured to ensure that the massive investment we are making in the hardware underpinning this fundamental social service produces a genuine improvement in the quality of life of our families. How often have we heard the laments of hard-working citizens who have paid their national insurance contributions regularly, only to find our health services lacking when they needed them most?

The present government in the last months of its life will beg, steal and borrow to ensure that it hangs on to power. It will beg the electorate to give it yet another chance to prove that the present unpopular phase will soon give way to a new era of prosperity. They will attempt to steal votes with a last ditch attempt to employ more workers in the public sector. They will borrow, if that is what it takes, to fill gaps of under-performing operators in the public sector.

Our democratic system of government thrives on the electorate’s prerogative to pass judgement on the performance of their representatives every five years. Fear of change perpetuates the weaknesses that emerge whenever a team of people becomes atrophied in its ideas because they are starved of new blood within their ranks.

Our families will soon have the opportunity to pass from the impotent state of blaming government for the hardships they have to endure because of the country’s mismanagement, to taking control of their destiny by changing the government. And, yes, Labour will be a most suitable alternative to this ageing administration.

Dr Mangion is the deputy leader of the Opposition.