Budgets come and go and make way for other budgets. They are mainly economic and fiscal tools in the hands of governments and company directors, aimed to set out their plans in order to improve their enterprise.
Do not worry, I am not here to discuss this last budget. Indeed this article was written before the budget was presented in Parliament. I merely aim to point out that this budget cannot change the state of nonchalance, of carelessness, and of the value-deprived administration that Malta has had the misfortune to endure, in most of the last 20 years.
Spin and hype in budget speeches are a main tool of this government, aimed to give the impression that all is well within our economy, going as far as to say that Malta is going through the best times ever. Admiringly yes, there are those that prospered and we wish them further success, but we cannot talk of these only when we talk of Malta or the Maltese. Our main aim as a nation should be to ensure that all of us prosper.
Whatever the government says, there are issues that no last budget before an election, or “late in the day” plan, can change; unless the basic philosophy and way of thinking are changed.
I am in the Labour Party because I strongly believe that the lives of all Maltese people can be changed for the better. Fundamentally, our efforts are directed to get Malta and the Maltese out of the present negative cycle. Our aim is not only to create wealth, but also to ensure that this trickles down throughout the Maltese society, benefiting all and sundry.
The present trend of the Nationalists is to talk of “excellence”. However, although talk is cheap, in the last few weeks we have seen the Nationalist pillars of so-called “excellencies”, falter and fail, one after the other. Not by the measures of Labour’s propaganda, but by those of foreign agencies, who have ridiculed the Nationalists’ pompous boasting when they exposed results, which are a far cry indeed, from Nationalist hype.
Two of the biggest indicators of Nationalist failure were their inability to move forward in the two most basic indicators of modern living:- education and health. The inability of the Nationalists to progress in these sectors indicates how much their governance has failed.
In education, for example, modern economies demand a well-educated and trained work force. Nationalist governments, however, have not only failed in the professional education of graduates, but they have also miserably failed those, at the lower levels of education. A recent EU report on education has clearly indicated that our government is far from meeting the Lisbon criteria. Malta’s record in each of these basic targets makes worrying reading indeed. Unfortunately and sadly so, Malta is trailing far below the EU average in every category stipulated in the Lisbon criteria.
And what about the failure in the health sector. In 2006, Malta was in the 13th place. In 2007 it ranked in the 20th place in a survey that compares healthcare systems, with Malta only scoring a ‘good’ in five areas, while obtaining a ‘poor’ in 12 other indicators.
This failure is even greater when one considers the inability of this government, once again, not to deliver, neither on time, nor on budget. The notion of “spend without bother” has driven us to the worst white elephant Nationalist governments have ever been able to produce. A hospital that has taken 17 years to build and cost the exchequer around Lm300 million. This, at the same time, while Malta has slipped seven places in the Euro Health Consumer Index, which compares healthcare systems amongst European Union countries.
The point is crystal clear. Although we hear a lot of hype and spin on the performance of this Nationalist government, both local and foreign reports vindicate Labour’s view that waste and incompetence are this government’s main results. On the other hand, Labour has and is working hard, firstly to be elected to government and when in government, to deliver what it promises; a better Malta for all the Maltese.
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Dr Michael Falzon is MLP deputy leader for party affairs