The last chapter in this moribund administration’s last year in power can very appropriately be entitled “A Comedy of Errors”. This dysfunctional government, which is led by a team of tired ministers whose main aim in life seems to be political survival, can no longer see clearly and decide on what really is best for our families and the country.

The way the recent incident relating to our ambassador in Dublin was tackled by the government has once again shown how error prone Dr Gonzi and his team have become. How could an ambassador have kept secret such a serious incident from the Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister himself? Why has Malta’s name in such a friendly country like Ireland been allowed to be so tainted by the insensitivity of our politicians and their acolytes?

But this was only the last in a series of incidents that show how the governance of the country has gone to the dogs. The question of the land of Maltcom in Qawra that should have reverted to the government has now been relegated to the limbo of our Law Courts. Who was held accountable for such an error? Why hasn’t the value of this land, estimated to be anything between Lm10 to Lm15 million, been used to alleviate the burden of excessive surcharges on water and electricity bills of the long-suffering Maltese families?

The Prime Minister lost a golden opportunity to regain some political credibility when he blatantly refused to accept the verbal offer to resign by one of his ministers who became entangled in an administrative procedure relating to the abuse of authority of one of his canvassers. What was behind such a strange decision? Who knows when we will be told the whole story about how and when the members of the present Cabinet have ensured their short-term political survival by defending each other to the hilt.

The debacle of the Xaghra il-Hamra story scares those in our society who treasure the preservation of our environment. After solemnly declaring that this site would be converted into a golf course, the Prime Minister had to succumb to public opinion and change his erroneous decision. But who is to tell us that, should he be given another chance, he will not repeat such a gross error of judgement on the preservation of our environmental heritage?

But perhaps the greatest error the Gonzi government has committed in the last few years is the obstinate refusal to understand how the excessive surcharge on water and electricity bills is squeezing the life out of our families. Families from all strata of our society today have to run twice as fast as they did in the past simply to remain in the same place. They not only fear for their jobs, but also have to cope with the ever-increasing cost of living pressures. Is this the way to preserve the moral solidity of our families?

We are not a rich country and cannot afford to waste our resources through erroneous political decisions. We have squandered millions of liri gathered through the taxes of thousand of hard working Maltese families who are increasingly being asked to underwrite the wrong decisions taken by this administration.

Our families need to have some serenity back in their lives. They need to know that the taxes they are paying do not leak out of the system through wrong political decisions and, much worse, outright fraudulent abuse by some stooges of politicians who have been allowed to inhabit our ministries.

Only a change in government can give this country a chance to recover from the malaise, which has come about as a result of 20 years of almost uninterrupted Nationalist rule. There is increasing evidence that the majority of people now feel that it is time to change for the good of their families, for their own good and for the good of the country.

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www.mangioncharles.com

Dr Mangion is deputy leader of the Opposition.