The Covid-19 pandemic has turned all our lives upside down at some point or other, but some form of normality was achieved in 2021.

The pandemic, however, seems to be here to stay, and this will be the backdrop for the year ahead.

There are several things this newsroom hopes will happen in 2022, one among which would be that Covid numbers would be able to be contained to low levels on a more permanent basis. This would require the health authorities to better keep watch over the situation and react far more quickly to spikes than it has thus far.

Getting Malta off the grey list is another hope for the coming year. Remaining on this list will result in problems for the country, which will become more severe the more time passes.

2022 will also see a general election. There have been calls for a public sector hiring freeze, except for essential services like nurses and educators. This should be implemented. Too many times in the past have we seen the power of incumbency play too large a role in elections.

Given the Covid situation, one also hopes that mass meetings will not be held.

There are also many high profile court cases that are ongoing, a number of which are related to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. One hopes that they will come to a close and that all those involved in the murder are brought to justice. 

Hate speech is another problem that plagues the country. Too many people think they can get away with hate speech. The authorities should come down hard on this issue. Hate speech is what led to the demonization of a journalist who was murdered, is also what leads to rampant racism in the country. We need to put a stop to this.

Over the past year we have also seen a number of scandals emerge involving politicians. Thankfully, resignations seem to be more frequent than they have been in the past. However, in the case of the Standards Committee, one cannot help but feel that the government MPs try to protect or limit the damage to MPs from their side of the fence. As such, a change to the Standards Committee is needed, perhaps by bringing in more people who are not politicians to form part of it. The Standards Commissioner’s remit should also be extended so that he would be able to investigate issues that happened before his office was created, something which he cannot presently do.

Currently, a review of the office, the committee and Parliamentary ethics is taking place and one hopes that it will see changes that will be of benefit to the country.

Over the past year we have also seen Infrastructure Malta continue to show disregard to procedure, starting a project before having the permissions required. As a public entity it should set the right example to the public, something which it is currently failing to do.

While on the topic of planning, the Environment and Resources Authority as well as the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage need to be strengthened and have a stronger say on planning applications. We have seen the PA ignore them on a number of occasions, and this should not be the case.

These are just a few of the issues and expectations we have for 2022 which we hope will be tackled.