Reading the papers in Malta these days, gives but a small glimpse of the state of lack of morals and values, so clearly evident in the administration of our country. What it certainly does however, is to strip off the mask from the spinned reality that the Nationalist government has been feeding us over the years. It’s not only corruption that bothers us all, but also the waste of public funds and the overall inability to govern.
The issues around the National Statistics Office are still fresh in our minds. We are still asking the question: as to why there was the need to amend already published statistics? The question of the euro also springs to the fore, and as to why it was a strong lobby within the European Popular Party; dear friends of the Maltese Nationalist Party, that questioned the statistics by which Malta gained the right to join the European currency? Was this a case of an exercise of simulating the true standing of our economy? Us mere mortals on the other hand, assess our economy, by how it really works and how it benefits us, not by the NSO statistics.
Another grim reality that this government has seriously neglected, is the cost of family property. The gross mismanagement in this area is especially painful to our young couples who are trying to start their families. That Malta is continuously becoming more dependent on the construction industry is evident. It’s not the growth of the industry that worries Labour, however, but its sustainability, both economically and environmentally, and its effect on the pricing of housing. Why this government has not invested more in social housing, making it thus possible for young couples to make it a sustainable project to invest in their family home, is yet another question which needs to be answered. Labour in government will here also look deeply into this problem. We will work on it and we will deliver.
In my last contribution, I had also delved into the problems of taxation and inflation, and how these are eating away at our standard of living. As time moves on, it is becoming also more evident that the effect of the introduction of the Euro on our cost of living and inflation, will be two fold: pre and post. A lot of noise is being made on the post introduction period and academically, a lot is being done to control the unmitigated profits that some of the businesses might make from the rounding-up of the equivalent (sic) prices in Euro.
But what about the pre-introductory stage, where some in the business community are already hiking up their prices at this stage of the process, to have a double advantage? What the administration is doing in this respect, if anything, escapes me, but should not escape the administration.
Another issue which needs addressing is the fact, that MEPA has become an uncontrollable institution within this weak Nationalist administration. There are not only situations that smack of corruption, but it is also evident that the organisation is clearly failing all those who seek to make slight alterations to their property. On the other hand, the big contractors are also claiming that they are at a loss as to how this organisation functions. The extension of the development zones last year, the recent Ramla l-Hamra permits, and numerous other decisions, have clearly shown that. MEPA is a failed organisation and is costing us dearly, our environment.
That taken, the Cacopardo affair is also highly intriguing. Cacopardo is by no means an enemy of the Nationalists. A man who had militated seriously within all the ranks of the Nationalist Party. His appointment as an investigator at the office of the MEPA ombudsman office, however, proved his abilities in uncovering very serious mal-practices, both within the organisation and by developers. His not being re-appointed as an investigating officer, in turn raises a lot of doubts on the administrative and political workings of the organisation. This coupled with the obstacles that the MEPA ombudsman is finding in trying to run his office, is indeed a serious scandal, which very much shows what the MEPA, the responsible Minister and the Government, might be possibly driving at.
As a last note, much is being speculated as to the date of the next General Election. Be it when it may, here I wish to rest everybody’s mind that Labour is working hard and is prepared to win the next elections to give Malta a serious government, come whenever. A far better Government than the present one, for sure.
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Dr Michael Falzon is the MLP Deputy Leader