The Archbishop may not have expected to be taken literally when on Independence Day he called for the setting up of ministry or a parliamentary secretary responsible for protecting the country’s moral fibre. Moral fibre is described as someone's ability to do what is morally correct in a particular situation. What has made Mgr Cremona come out with such a suggestion? Is he sensing that our moral fibre is suddenly nose-diving at a rapid speed? Is he fearing that since people are normally led by example, they are currently being exposed to behaviour of the lowest standards by people in the highest places?
Of course, he might have been influenced by the high profile cases of corruption related to the purchase of oil or by cases of corruption involving judges or indeed by the ever-increasing number of births outside marriage, one-night stands and various arrangements between friends with benefits. But he could also have been influenced by this government’s behaviour in the first six months in office.
Who can blame anyone who expresses disappointment at the fact that the Labour Party won the last election on the basis of promises that are obviously being broken. The issue of meritocracy was one major electoral promise this government broke in a big way. A poster that was circulating in the social media this week was very much to the point. Showing a picture of Minister Konrad Mizzi and his wife it stated: From Meritocracy to Marriedocracy. Very spot on indeed. In any other civilised country such a move would have caused more than a ripple. Minister Mizzi was not alone in getting a family member on board. So did Minister Godfrey Farrugia and so did Minister Anton Refalo.
Meritocracy à la Labour was not only restricted to family but also to friends, particularly those in the strict Labour circle. Practically all Labour officials, one TV journalists, poster boys and girls and mercenaries were paid in kind for their services to the party. Whereas this government had projected itself as a party open to all the Maltese and Gozitans, irrespective of their political beliefs, it is showing that it will only push forward the interests of those who helped it gain power. As for the rest? What the heck… Ask those police officers who got transferred, the Malta Enterprise officials who were treated so badly that they had no option but to resign, the career ambassadors who learned they were losing their jobs through the media and the Armed Forces Commander who has been told that he is no longer wanted by this government by the puppet union’s newspapers. “A government for all” indeed.
This government’s sense of (in)correct behaviour is amazing. We have experienced the absurdity of having a minister “keeping an eye” on the selection process to fill the army’s top positions by sending a former One reporter and a customer care officer to ensure that the minister gets no surprises. This abusive behaviour was preceded by the direct intervention of a parliamentary secretary in the tendering process for the selection of legal firm to provide services to government.
And who can forget the declarations of assets submitted in haste by ministers and parliamentary secretaries in the last hours of the last parliamentary sessions before the summer recess. Some of the declarations were truly unbelievable. Half a million euro in cash kept in a minister’s house, a minister forgetting to declare her salary as a public officer, another minister failing to declare a villa in his possession and much more.
On second thoughts, I won’t be surprised if this government takes up the Archbishop’s challenge to set up the entity suggested on Independence Day. It would be the perfect gimmick to cover up the mess created in just six months.
Cheap stuff at a high price
Last week I had the opportunity to watch this week’s edition of Panorama on BBC 1. It focused on the abuse of workers employed in garment factories in Bangladesh. The investigation was carried out by the BBC in the wake of the collapse of Rana Plaza, an eight-storey commercial building in Savar, a sub-district in the Greater Dhaka Area, the capital of Bangladesh. A total of 1,129 persons perished in this tragedy and approximately 2,500 injured people were rescued.
The abuses uncovered by the reporter who investigated the case are shocking. Workers of all ages are shown reporting for work early in the morning and coming out very late at night. Most of them work for up to 19 hours a day for as little as £2.50 a week. The footage also shows the owner closing the shutter and locking it with the workers inside to ensure that no one comes out before their time is up. To cover up this abuse, the owners make sure that official papers show that workers work from 7am to 5pm; however they are made to work much more than that.
What is amazing is that we, living in this part of the world, are probably not aware that many of the clothes of renowned brands we are buying from popular chains of shops (I won’t mention them but you can easily google them) are produced by workers treated like slaves and exploited in a very abusive way. It is true that in the era of globalisation we have somehow come to take this fact for granted, but it is high time international organisations such as the United Nations take a firm stand against such abuses. Probably the most effective action that can be taken against chains that buy from such factories is to name and shame them in a big way. I don’t think they can afford such a bad publicity.
Charlo’ Bonnici is Opposition spokesperson for sustainable development, the environment and climate change