Malta is a European country and has been a member of the European Union since 2004

These are facts and there is no doubt about them. However our standards are lower than those of a European country. By standards I do not only mean standards where the environment is concerned or in other sectors.

What I mean is that the way politics is done locally and the way in which we are governed, makes us more like a developing country than a European democracy.

In the last months a number of issues can be mentioned as an example. I will try to mention only a few. First of all, let me start with a general comment. For the current administration, accountability is a word that exists only in the dictionary. It is not put in practice by ministers and others who are appointed politically or serve in a ministry.

When the Prime Minister mentioned the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in respect to the salary that ministers receive, in my opinion it goes without saying that you must also compare the standards that go with the job. If this was the case then half of the cabinet ministers should have resigned for different reasons. By any chance did you hear of even one resignation?

Unlike what happened in other countries in time of crisis, the Prime Minister and his ministers gave themselves a pay rise. Others are reducing their salaries. Of course, we can have a whole debate on a decent salary for politicians but the way it was done and the timing are offensive to families who are struggling to make ends meet. There were a number of occasions where the government had the chance to reverse this but the Prime Minister did not take these opportunities.

Another example of the kind of democracy that we have can be seen in the way the PN pretends to be the father of democracy and is very much critical of Labour administrations, but in a subtle and more sophisticated way it is in fact acting worse.

The Cyrus Engerer case is a clear example of how the police force is used to suit the needs of the PN. I have never spoken to Cyrus and I am not going into the details of the case, but the way the events occurred leads to doubts. I am not at all convinced with what the police said.

Furthermore, I am not convinced because it emerged that the right hand man of the Prime Minister admitted that he called the police for his reasons but, to me, he was trying to defend the PN from further embarrassment.

Another issue which demonstrates the low standards that this country is governed by is the Pharmacy of Your Own Choice scheme. Apart from the fact that it started on a wrong footing, I don’t know how many times this scheme was suspended and then re-introduced. Moreover it is only found in the central and northern regions. Dear Minister, when is it going to be extended to the southern part of the island?

There is not even one village or town in what is known as the south of Malta that has this scheme in place. Why is it so? Are we second class citizens?

But, apart from this, how is the scheme working in other places where supposedly it was introduced? I received complaints from people in Birkirkara and Santa Venera who said that some of the medicines are not found for weeks and are out of stock. This means that they have to go and buy the medicine they need from another pharmacy.

But the most important thing for this administration is how things appear from the outside and not how they really are.

The government takes pride in the fact that the POYC scheme was successfully introduced, but does not say that it was not introduced nationwide and that the service where this is in place leaves much to be desired.

The people deserve much better. And after all these years that the PN has been in government change is very much needed and felt. We need some fresh air, the country needs it and I am certain that it will benefit all.

Carmelo Abela is Labour Main Spokesperson for Social Policy

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