From Mr J. Azzopardi

It seems that electoral campaigning affects the memory of the two political parties very severely. It is so unfortunate for the country that all politicians of the two major political parties suffer from dementia, which in turn causes them to plan short term – just enough to see them through to the next election.

All administrations since Independence have jumped on the bandwagon of prosperity the manufacturing industries were bringing to Malta at the time. The politicians were happy for people to get into the labour-intensive industries because they earned a good deal of money and the politicians gained the votes.

The problem was that they expected time to stand still and the world to owe Malta a living. In the meantime they neglected the future of the country: there is no future beyond five years. In the meantime, two generations of Maltese have worked at a fast disappearing future that politicians ignored.

Given the calibre of the majority of Maltese politicians it could be they lacked the foresight and vision to see the writing on the wall, or they simply did not care. In their eagerness to score political mileage by encouraging people to work in labour-intensive industries, they helped maintain the focus securely fixed on quick-money industries that did not require highly educated workers.

They did not plan for high value-added service industries such as countries like Luxembourg did. The result was two generations of people lacking high academic qualifications necessary to compete in today’s world. In fact, surveys have shown that Malta’s population is the least qualified in the EU.

The truth of the matter is that we have missed the boat by a long shot. We had plenty of opportunities to turn the focus of this country towards service industries, but manufacturing produced quick result for politicians. Now the chickens have come home to roost, and the two major political parties are to blame for treating this country like a prostitute. The arrogance and hypocrisy of our politicians is something to be reckoned with.

John Azzopardi

BIDNIJA