Many centuries have passed since the Byzantine Empire crumbled under the incessant attacks of barbarians but Byzantium played a role in history that must not be underrated.

Between ancient and modern European civilization, the Dark Ages intervened, and the Byzantines, while lacking the intellectual energy for renovation and survival, preserved the apparatus of civilization – books, education and learning.

Thus was the West stimulated when it emerged from its state of barbarism. The store of knowledge preserved by Byzantium was retrieved to stimulate new thought and initiatives – scholasticism in one case and the renaissance on the other.

That is the positive side of the coin. There was however a negative side which continues to be a living legend. It is the complicated system of policy, introduced by Diocletian and improved by Constantine, with its underhand and devious characteristics’

Images of Byzantium are evoked each time modern communities find themselves face to face with secrecy, simulation and evasion, where one would expect transparency and dialogue in public affairs.

The legend lives on, particularly in the vast area once under the influence of Byzantium, and its peripheries. Malta is in that zone.

Maltese scenario

Our politicians often sing the praises of transparency and dialogue. Just as often, they turn a blind eye to the game of wheels within wheels and, many a time, they are the participants.

Wily politicians do their own thing. Public opinion and its supposed leaders give the impression of being mesmerised and incapable of demanding the data that would enable them to act independently.

At this moment in time, Malta is faced with formidable problems, as it stands on the threshold of the global market, spurred as it is by fast technological change and cutthroat competition.

In this scenario, Malta needs dynamic, imaginative go-getting leadership – one capable of coping with the demands of change, and synchronised with the electoral mood.

Malta must live by what it earns if its fragile economy is to survive. It must find ways and means to open up new sources of earning. It must be outward looking, capable of using its human and other resources to maximum advantage, and open to change.

This is not a form of newly acquired wisdom. Queues of experts have been stating the obvious well before Malta achieved independence. Local politicians in office, permanent administrators and captains of industry have been saying the same things all along.

It is one thing to preach prescriptions and to draw up blueprints. Performance is another.

The sad, interminable story of the derelict site of the former Royal Opera House, the charade relating to the Crafts Village at Ta Qali, the persistent and widespread neglect of heritage sites, the poor quality of our public transport service, and the state of many roads, all combine to demonstrate our lack of concentration on upgrading Malta’s tourist sector – which is a pillar of the economy, and a prime source of foreign earnings.

The steady depredation of the environment by the construction industry, and the mind-boggling, but persistent, follies on the part of Mepa compounded our problems under the nose of a comatose administration.

The cost of government has soared, but bureaucratic efficiency has proved to be no match to cost overruns of the kind that made Mater Dei Hospital the costliest white elephant in Malta’s chequered history.

Higher up at executive level, the government has lost its grip, at times running the show by resorting to ersatz solutions, with little or no regard to constitutional and administrative rectitude.

The sensitive office of executive head of the National Office of Statistics has been vacant for a good 19 months, and the office of the Auditor-General has been without a substantive head practically for as many months. The government’s Byzantine disregard of its standing in the eyes of Eurostat and the euro zone bigwigs tells it all.

Resistance to change

Taken in the mass, all of these considerations ought to concentrate the mind of all concerned. The media ought to demand transparency, ferret out information and identify the nature of Malta’s predicament.

Politicians with a Byzantine frame of mind will resist change. They have flourished by upholding the status quo. They hope to wield power in their respective domains, and expect the submissive tax-paying electorate to pay, to make good for their sins of omission and commission.

Malta has been impervious to change – and the need of the moment is far more than a cosmetic change.

This is why new blood is needed, and why the system of government must be so oriented as to project itself beyond the party faithful.

Malta needs a government that is dynamic and metropolitan, and willing to tackle the nation’s problems frontally.

Creating diversions, with the intent of distracting public opinion, will only make matters worse, because this will stoke the fires of polarisation when, in fact, the magnitude and intensity of Malta’s problems call for a meeting of minds.

This is the shark in the water. Politicians in office pretend it is not there and live merrily in a land of make-believe. Others are paralysed by their impotence and lack the strength necessary to lead men and control events.

Meanwhile, Byzantium lives on. The taxpayer pays the costs and bears the burden.

In the final analysis, it is only the electorate that can rid itself of this yoke.

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