President George Abela is to be commended for the challenge he effectively laid at the Maltese populace’s feet yesterday morning when he made the surprise announcement that the l-Istrina annual fund-raising event will no longer be offering the prospect of prizes for those calling in with donations.

The practice has to date constituted a serious blemish on an otherwise altruistic and noble undertaking of lending a helping financial hand to those less fortunate and in dire need of assistance.

Every year, what is intended as Malta’s biggest charity event descends into a frenzy of prize giving, with supermarket trolleys – each replete with dozens of desirable consumer items – not to mention the big prizes of cars, cruises, flat screen televisions, are handed out with increasing frequency as the deadline draws nearer.

To date, each year’s event degenerates into a frenzy of greed rather than a demonstration of the Maltese people’s generosity and solidarity. Nor can the telethon, in its past incarnations, be used as a gauge of public generosity toward charitable causes – a misconception bandied about very liberally in the wake of each and every L-Istrina.

Of course the move holds a number of risks and the final decision taken by the President presents the people with a rather singular challenge to rise to – to donate at least as much as in previous years but with the full knowledge that there will be no reward, no chance of winning the stacks of consumer prizes with monetary values far, far outweighing their donations.

One wonders if there has been one instance in L-Istrina’s history of a prize winner actually turning around and donating their prize winnings back to the charities and claim the prizes were not the reason they picked up the phone to donate – even though the telethons presenters’ pleas typically become frantic toward the end of the show, which usually degenerates into a lottery of sorts – in the process all but completely obfuscating the very raison d’être of the event.

The risk was surely a calculated one on the part of President Abela. In his own words yesterday: “It was not an easy decision and we looked into the risks, but I am convinced that people will prove that they believe in the real value of solidarity and generosity without needing to be awarded a prize in return.”

The decision, despite the risks to the Malta Community Chest Fund, which the President heads and which since 2001 has been the beneficiary of half the funds raised every year, is commendable and sends out a strong message and one that is most befitting of the Office of the President – that the event is about charity and solidarity with those less fortunate and not about the thirst for prizes and the sating of consumerist greed.

Let us hope the people see it fit to rise to the President’s challenge come December.

The real threat on the roads

While dangerous driving remains a menace that claims lives every year, the real threat on Malta’s roads, which continually see the EU’s lowest per capita death rate, is pollution and its far more intangible and insidious health effects.

Malta has for a long time held something of a dubious record in the EU – its car density. We were told repeatedly during the last general election campaign that the country’s car density is by far Europe’s highest, so much so that Europe’s second-highest car density, a position held by The Netherlands, was actually some five times lower than that of Malta.

That was in February 2008. Since then, and within the space of one year, according to figures released this week, the number of newly licensed vehicles has skyrocketed by over 40 per cent while the number of total vehicles is a mere few hundred vehicles shy of the 300,000 mark.

Vehicle emissions are a leading source of air pollution and, in the same vein, a leading source of the deterioration of the country’s air quality – itself a major component of the much harped upon need to raise the quality of life of those residing in Malta.

The neglect, highlighted recently by the Auditor General, on the part of the Malta Transport Authority in testing vehicles citizens reported as having particularly heavy exhaust levels, should serve as a wake-up call for the authorities. And it has, with the promise that the situation is to be rectified and that those reported are to be investigated materialising soon after.

The recent news that the European Commission is considering infringement proceedings against Malta with respect to PM10 traffic pollution is another welcome move.

The recent and controversial shake up in the government’s registration tax regime is, meanwhile, also a welcome move. Charging those importing vehicles on the basis of their emissions as well as their size, considering the myriad parking woes motorists suffer, is one laudable initiative.

Another new way of cutting emissions, which we have heard very little of since the last budget, are the plans to promote energy efficient driving practices. Not only do such practices save drivers money at the fuel pump, but logic also says that the less fuel a car uses, the less exhaust it emits.

The initiatives, according to the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan, which aims to foster an across the board three per cent energy consumption cut by 2010, include the provision of advisory services on energy saving measures, the dissemination of public information on eco-driving through driving schools, vehicle repairers, car retailers and at VRT test sites, and the development of an intelligent traffic management system.

In the meantime, the government was to also investigate whether petrol stations would be able to provide cost effective energy efficiency services such as compressed air for tyres, information and/or engine checks. Activities along such lines are, according to the plan, to begin in 2009.

While such developments would certainly serve the country in good stead in the longer term, what is needed is a solution on how to decrease the numbers of vehicles on the roads, with the obvious result of cutting emissions, in the shorter term.

The answer is in public transport and the painful reform process that is about to kick off.

As with most things, the solution lies in a combination of measures and not in one measure alone.

All the initiatives aimed at cutting Malta’s vehicle exhaust levels are urgently needed and would be most welcome – not only by the present generations but also by future generations who would look back at our actions today and thank us for our, albeit somewhat belated, foresight.