Last week we celebrated the feast of the Epiphany when according to the scriptures wise men followed the star and went to visit baby Jesus and offered Him three gifts. Now we can say that the festive period is over and slowly but surely we are coming back to reality. I assume that we received a gift or two and presumably gave some as well.

The Nationalist government also presented “gifts” to us Maltese. The “gifts” received are higher water and electricity tariffs, the introduction of a sewage tax and a number of other measures which were announced in the budget speech for this year such as the introduction of 15 cents eco tax on plastic bags and higher car licences just to mention two.

Of course these were not the kind of gifts which were promised by the PN during the electoral campaign. But notwithstanding all the discourse this is what we got. All the families have to once again carry the burden to make up for the financial deficit and for all the mismanagement and bad administration of the present administration. To date the finance minister did not explain how and why the deficit almost quadrupled to that planned.

This huge deficit for sure cannot be attributed to the international crisis since already in the first quarter of year 2008 the situation was already in bad shape. In the successive three quarters it worsened. As such the budget for this year was a consequence of the local financial situation and the finance minister had to be creative in order to collect more taxes.

Not only but due to the investment which needs to be done in the coming years with regards to a new power station to replace that at Marsa, the government unilaterally decided to drastically increase the water and electricity tariffs.

Unfortunately, the “wise men” this time round did not bring any positive gifts not even the five promised energy saving bulbs. Hopefully this year we will get ten, five for 2008 and another five for 2009? Maybe not since the election seems too far away.

Rainfall

From time to time we do experience some heavy rainfall. However all this rainfall is lost. In the past our ancestors used to build reservoirs to try and make use of rain water but in recent years these reservoirs are not being used at all. I am saying this because, as many are aware, as a country we spend a lot of money to convert sea water into potable water through the various reverse osmosis plants scattered around the island. Therefore trying to make use of rain water would be a good idea.

By this I don’t mean that we are going to avoid using reverse osmosis plants but at least we can use the rain water which comes for free after all. Perhaps the current administration will try to do something in this respect and accept the fact that after all what was done in the past was not bad after all and can contribute to save some money as well.

Castille bare again

Last week a number of trees were removed from in front of Castille, which serves as the Office of the Prime Minister. The fact that Castille is bare again from trees was a matter that some sections of the media did a lot of fuss about. Not only, but the PBS news also felt to do a vox pop about the subject.

Of course I agree that now Castille’s beauty can be appreciated more. But it is very strange that PBS does not find some time in their news to include a press release or two issued by the party in opposition but then finds ample time to report that two or three trees were removed. But you know we live in a democracy!

Not only is the exterior of Castille bare now, but also its occupant is barefaced after the broken electoral promises. Before March 2008 talk was sweet and the future was bright but immediately after the slight win of the PN over the PL the world changed. It is a case of history repeating itself since this is not the first time that this has happened.

We can also say that history is repeating itself with respect to bills not being paid to the pharmaceuticals importers. In 1996 the then Labour government was faced with millions of Maltese Lira of outstanding bills. Now the importers have tens of millions of euros in outstanding bills.

I do not know whether road contractors are in the same situation as was the case in 1996; however this is going to make the financial situation even worse and shows how the Nationalist Party in government was irresponsible in the months preceding the general election.

In 1996 since the PN lost the election, they had the opportunity to blame it on the Labour Party but now since they are in power they are trying hard to blame it on different circumstances that happened towards the end of last year. But we are not going to be convinced now. Now Castille is bare both from the outside but also from the inside.

Carmelo Abela is

Deputy Speaker and

Labour main spokesperson for industry and foreign investment

email: [email protected]