Let’s be positive this Sunday, this hopefully glorious, spring Sunday: there are some corners of Malta which are well-maintained, are clean, and a joy to walk in.
This is not a Sunday fairy tale. Two of these places are in Sliema. This has now, it would appear, gone from fable to abject nonsense. Isn’t Sliema the place where all is shoddy, shabby and strewn with excrement and worse?
Isn’t Sliema, the country’s real estate epicentre, terrible and battling so many problems that no minister, mayor, superman, or demi-god could put them right?
Yet within it there is hope, there is a chink of light.
MIDI with its piazza and the Piazzetta area in Sliema are clean and well-maintained.
Can’t the whole of Sliema and the rest of the island be kept in this state too?
And yet – yes, there will always be a few yets in life – there is a huge horror in all of this. Most dreams, even those of fabled areas, have a dark, ominous, side to them. Humans, especially it seems Malta’s rulers and their acolytes, can’t do anything above board and devoid of shadiness.
The places mentioned, and some others all over the island, have a history of controversy.
Besides the controversial history of how the land was purchased or gifted, they all are part of the Dubaisation of our country. They all offer glitz, shininess and the sickening taking over of space to accommodate international brands, the sameness of design seen all over the globe.
Aesthetically the edifices mostly look boring; even the slightly interesting ones feel ugly because of their context and the space they inhabit.
However, beyond all this groaning and the controversies behind them, few can deny that they are kept well. Maintained so well that some of them seem clinical. Most are good enough to let children, toddlers, adults of all ages, run free.
Their open spaces are car-free, well-organised and not the riot of horrors our roads have become. Most of our piazzas are filthy, taken over by vehicles which are a menace to all. Even the briskest of us must avoid all the obstacles that constantly confront us on our roads.
There is one locality which comes close to this well-kept dream. Birgu is, and has been, well looked after. The people living there seem to have more civic sense than most of the rest of the islanders. The mayor, who has held that position forever, is another secret to the success.
Can’t the same happen throughout the country? Can’t the same principle which inspires the privately-owned and -run areas pervade the whole of Malta? Loads of taxes are collected and in return all we get is a shabby country. Central government and local councils on the whole have failed. Isn’t it about time something drastic is implemented?
If the public isn’t being served by the public authorities maybe it’s time to think of devolving some tasks to the private sector.
Alas, yet again, this harebrained solution to our ills which could potentially turn our shabbiness to something better offers another problem.
Just as the authorities have failed to use our taxes properly, thus allowing Malta to langour in its shabby state, they also cannot be trusted with passing on more money to private entrepreneurs. Not because all entrepreneurs are corrupt or not up to standard. But because the goons in power will only choose goons like themselves who, like them, cannot deliver.
This is what needs to change. Excellent and non-corrupt people do exist and can be found and will deliver.
The country needs many new ideas, new initiatives, new perspectives. It’s either that or we sink deeper and deeper into the mess we are in. Besides our tidal wave of existential and institutional problems, we have this problem of seemingly out of control dinginess.
Obviously this plan shouldn’t be immediately instituted on a national level; a pilot scheme in one locality, even a part of a locality, could pave the way for others. Of course there will be clashes, petty fights and local council revolts.
Until someone brave enough to tackle all these obstacles does come forward, Malta will remain the land which cleanliness forgot.
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