The Prime Minister's communication's office et al have done it again. 

This time round it was Joseph Muscat himself who was shoved into a press conference anticipated to deal with a nation changing announcement, when a brief press release by Enemalta would have sufficed. As things happened, the good news lost its flavour before it hit the eardrum of the electorate and instead of generating positive energy, it generated an unsavoury dose of derision. Some say that Muscat brought it on himself by repeatedly referring to great good news to be divulged last Monday, during his speeches in the preceding days. I beg to differ.  We are in the middle of an electoral campaign. The government’s public relations and media officers know that the devil is in the detail and that credibility points are difficult to gain but very easily lost.

The least they could have done is load the flag emblazoned courtyard of Castile, with the more weighty positive measures announced later on in the week, if  the PM 's repeated mentioning of good news had indeed primed up the expectations of the people way above what a few euro cut to their annual fuel bill could elicit. 

It is unfortunate, that with each blow to the credibility of either Government or Opposition or both, more people are turning away in disgust from the way politics in this country has metamorphosed from the instrument to get things done well, in time and with the people's true  well-being in mind, to a politics of  rhetoric, marketing and irresponsible psychological manipulation of the electorate.

The general public is not interested in the political jibes and antics and doublespeak that literally litter our media.

We just aspire to live a good, dignified, healthy life, in a stable,secure and positive environment. Each person expects a governance that is conducive to his individual fulfilment but also the kind of fulfilment that can be synergistic within the wider existence of a reasonably fulfilled community and nation.

We are all aware that good governance can provide us with the basic nutrients for our growth, with the tools necessary to ensure our physical and intellectual development, but then it is up to us to grab the opportunities, and explore and exploit those chances to improve our lot and that of our fellow countrymen and other global citizens.

So it’s that simple. No matter how much of our hard earned and forfeited taxpayer's money is squandered on adverts proclaiming the excellence  and benevolence of any government, past , present and future, people will empower the political party who walks its talk ,and will vote out at its earliest opportunity the party that shatters its hope for a reasonably dignified existence. To put it simply , it won't matter to the electorate if a government is spending €8.5 million  more annually on a larger cabinet, if on an individual basis the individual is noting a marked improvement in his and his family's   general standard of  living. 

Conversely , a government choosing to spend crucial thousands of taxpayers money  on advertising itself, engaging  people on public service on their party allegiance rather than on competence and potential productivity, as has happened with past PN governments and is happening now, will cause excruciating pain to an electorate made up of individuals who may potentially be refused life saving cancer treatment abroad for lack of funds.  If we let down our people this time round the electorate will be doubly hurt because our Labour Movement raised our nation's  hopes and expectations to unprecedented levels.  On the other hand  there is ample positive energy to go round coupled with enough time to learn from our teething problems and make these five years positively  memorable for all Maltese and Gozitans and restore faith in local politics in the process.

Now,  for a start and if anybody out there goes by what Karl Marx thought, wrote and said ( I have significant reservations myself on many issues but agree with him on this one ) ,  and if indeed ' social progress can be measured firmly by the social position of the fair sex', we can extend the rush  we experienced by the surge in civil rights in our country by empowering women to really take the lead in the positive development of Malta and Gozo.

The success of our nation will be measured not least by how unnecessary most social benefits would be at the end of this five year tenure.    

As major recipients of a good chunk of our welfare budget, most women (though there are exceptions of course), do not want handouts.

They want jobs that pay(though the €1,500 euro  annual top up for minimum wage earners, was a magnificent  move since many  women are trapped in precarious employment).

They want support (the free childcare initiatives are excellent), but they also want credit made easy and at reasonable rate to start their own business. It was a relief to hear that the Permanent Secretary at the Economy and Investment Ministry is a woman. If she manages to harness the innate entrepreunerial capabilities of the thousands of Maltese and Gozitan women ready who are ready to go, we will create jobs for ourselves and for others , pay our own maternity leave,and turn the increasing joblessness around for the government, not wait for it to do that for us.

The key to sustainable economic recovery is unshackling the women to participate freely and unhindered and to unlock their innate entrepreneurial   skills. PL seems to have an inkling and is trying to get there though not with enough force, but the PN seems to be overlooking this very important aspect to job creation.