On Friday 28th January 2022, I was honoured with the social breakfast meeting which we organised, Neżisti jew Ngħix?, which was held at the new premises of Caritas Malta in Mountbatten Street in Ħamrun.
This event saw the gathering of active citizens from various walks of life who came together with the mission of generating more social awareness on the most vulnerable strata in our society. We have explained how we care about our fellow people who may be on the brink of any one of life’s edges. But we should not stop at caring only, as our calling is to get hand in hand and immediately work for more social justice in our country.
We had the opportunity to present various real-life situations which albeit similar constitue different experiences from unique individuals. Personal statements such as ‘I realise I have nothing when I look at my life’ and ‘my children grew up without me realising’ and ‘I feel set aside and lonely’ leave you heartbroken and speechless. These are all true situations which reflect the daily burden some people have to carry. Such statements challenge me to continuously aspire to make more difference in these people’s lives through politics.
As a country, we cannot turn a blind eye to these hearthaches. The guest speakers, who honoured us in the conference, spoke clearly of this. Each life is precious and as a society we should strive to leave no one behind. The shift from an individualistic to altruistic thinking is key driver for more social justice. We need to speak the language of the suffering to help them lift themselves within a climate enriched with mercy and solidarity.
Together with the Leader of the Opposition, Dr Bernard Grech, I was satisfied to present the first part of the vision of the PN for a socially just Malta of the future. This was presented in the form of four proposals which I will be describing here:
The first proposal is to seek to understand the true nature of poverty and be able to address it. We propose to achieve this by setting up an autonomous and independent structure - ‘Poverty Watch’ – to be composed of NGOs and social experts which will genuinely measure poverty and devise actions for the timely prevention and reduction of poverty. A Nationalist Government would also be revamping and updating the National Strategy for Poverty Reduction and Social Inclusion which should be reviewed bi-annually and not every 10 years, as per the current Govenment’s standards.
The second proposal is about the establishment of a minimum living income. This is a topic I have been personally writing and speaking about on numeruous occasions. The implementation of the living income would secure an adequate income for all such that everyone can carry on with their life in dignity. The intention is not to obtain living income through burdening of the tax payer but through a financial model where the minimum income equates sufficiently with the cost of living and within an environment where the employer can also gain through added value from the employee.
The third proposal expresses solidarity with the homeless. There are approximately 300 people without a permanent home in Malta and Gozo. Therefore, we are proposing to develop incentives for vacated propoerties to serve as shelters for the homeless. This would be achieved in agreement between owners, NGOs and the Government.
The fourth proposal is to promote more Corporate Scoial Responsibility (CSR) to truly promote the common good.
Looking back to a few days ago, the social breakfast meeting was deemed a success and has managed to provoke thoughts about the importance social aspects and difficulties in the country. I thank each of the keynote speakers for their participation and their life contributions to fundamental social causes around us. On a final note, my esteemed thanks goes to Caritas Malta who welcomed us in their home to help us project the message for social justice.
Ivan Bartolo is a PN MP.