Some two years ago, after discussing with the editors of the Malta Independent, I started writing this weekly column as a bridge with several sectors of society affected by ongoing developments. From the plight of nurses for better recognition, to the need for a more fair and transparent business environment to bolster SMEs, to the call for meritocracy for our students, I tried to voice issues on behalf of the few or the many directly concerned.
This week, I would have loved to delve deeper into the San Vincenz scandal and how Government’s disdain to public procurement laws is suffocating business enterprise in Malta.
I vowed to myself however, that in my political parcours I will not shy away from tackling head on the main issues afflicting society. I will not steer away from controversy just to protect myself, because keeping mum is safer than speaking one’s mind. Unfortunately today, speaking of the PN’s struggle to make political inroads is more honest to my readers than speaking of Government’s consistent abuse of power. It is that serious.
It is a hard pill to swallow, but swallow it we must. I will not use this column as a platform for passing on the messages to party protagonists and leadership. There are the other channels for that. In the coming lines I would rather share with you my wider, and particularly subjective, analysis of the context and its difficulties for the Nationalist Party. I will use examples over the past weeks as incidents have a way of explaining phenomena better than words themselves.
Politics, as we know, should be the process whereby political actors reflect the needs of society and propose ways how to address main challenges. The PN is all about that right now. Over the past few weeks it produced concrete proposals on Renewable Energy, on Tourism and on the Promotion of Small Businesses. In all cases, teams of professionals were involved with politicians on several levels to produce interesting alternative solutions which, to my mind, can be a game changer for the sectors involved.
But is any of the above reaching joe citizen in his workplace or on his smartphone? Very little. Let’s take the PN’s tourism proposals as a case study. The document for a 2+8 Tourism strategy for Malta outlines a powerful idea to engage tourism operators in the direct marketing of tourism niches in Malta through their own targeted campaigns with direct reimbursement of expenses. The PN gave this policy document full priority for several days with press conferences, Facebook live and a full swing coordinated agenda on the PN’s radio and TV channels. The proposals were very well received by the social partners with very encouraging support including from the Malta Hoteliers and Restaurateurs Association grouping the lion’s share of operators in the industry.
Tourism makes up to 25% of our economy in Malta with several economists stretching that figure up to 40% when you include all trickle down economic effects. So you would say that the PN’s proposals on topic, especially given the Covid-19 pandemic and the attention on reopening our economy would get centre-stage by the independent media, right? Not really. The PN’s ideas ended up featuring on page 8 to page 6 on two main newspapers and fifth item on the news of the national public TV station.
A lot of people speaking to us on the PN would claim that they do not really know the PN’s positions on main policy priorities. Definitely, we must address that concern by being clearer and more vocal on several issues, but how can our message come across if all policy debate in this country will take page 8 after seven pages of scandals or other hot news?
In contrast to the PN’s proposals on Energy, Tourism and Business which took not more than a few minutes of public attention, a spat between two main PN protagonists took front page treatment for three days.
Virtually all comments on the PN’s worrying performance in the polls would point it down to the fact that the ‘old faces’ are ruining PN’s chances. Yet, in the past few months the PN has attracted to its ranks scores of new candidates and front liners from several walks of life including total newcomers to politics and former labour protagonists. Is it a question of the old faces ruining our chances or rather that the cards are stacked in a way that some of the old faces will always get more attention simply because they attract much more clicks on news portals?
Did anyone care to speak about the very creative ways that our new candidates are trying to breach the hard wall of electoral support in a pandemic where door to door politics is not possible? I did not see any coverage of that. Then of course, once one candidate out of thirty drops out, all media attention goes to that candidate’s qualms of not fitting in what is at the end of the day a democratic structure where one cannot impose his own views on the collective will.
The PN is not just fighting the power of incumbency of ministers with armies of ‘helpers’ returning the favour of government jobs, calling every household once a week asking for patronage. The PN has higher walls to climb than the hundreds of billboards with taxpayers ‘money peppering every corner telling us how wise the labour party is to create cyclable lanes, to keep schools open or to build flyovers. There is more to overcome than a culture where corruption does not necessarily have a negative connotation across the board or where abuse of power may suggest opportunity rather than outrage.
It is clear to me that the PN and its leader Dr Bernard Grech are not lacking in energy or drive to be a force for change in this country. On the contrary. I see that drive growing by the day. The frustration of lack of inroads in the polls however need to be tackled with new radical ways of reaching the electorate. We can’t keep on playing the game with the same rules that will maim us and contain us as they please. We need to change the game altogether, writing new rules, charting new methods beyond the current parameters which will always contain our voice to a whisper. This is no whisper. This is a roar dying to bite at injustice and abuse.
Peter Agius, MEP candidate
[email protected]