Credit where credit is due: the Maltese government has been nothing if not industrious in churning out strategy documents, long-term plans, and lofty frameworks. From transport to tap water, from fertility to poverty, ministers have been busy laying the groundwork for a brighter, better, more sustainable Malta.

Vision 2050. Energy plans. Water investment. Social strategies. It's like an Excel spreadsheet with glitter - carefully colour-coded policies stretching far into the future, each promising more cohesion, more inclusion, more strategic synergy.

To be fair, it's refreshing to see a government thinking beyond the next electoral cycle, with commitments that extend to 2030 and beyond.

The Malta Vision 2050, for instance, reads like a national mission statement carved in digital stone. This grand framework aims to unify sectoral strategies under one master plan. There's even a timetable, measurable goals, and a focus on sustainability and resilience.

Equally ambitious is the Social Plan for the Family 2025-2030, which talks about empowering families, boosting fertility, and encouraging better work-life balance. One of its centrepieces? Encouraging parents to spend more "quality time" with their children - perhaps between juggling two jobs, endless traffic, and skyrocketing rents.

Then there's the National Transport Strategy and Master Plan. Yes, the one that maps out every type of transport from bikes to catamarans and presumably also flying cars, since it stretches all the way to 2050. The overarching strategy casts a noble eye on "sustainable mobility," which we're told will eventually ease our traffic misery. Excuse us if we can't see it happening.

The 2030 National Energy and Climate Plan deserves a mention too. This one promises a reduction in greenhouse gases and a leap in renewable energy use.

And let's not forget water. A cool €310 million has been earmarked for the 2023-2033 National Investment Plan for Water and Wastewater. The plan doesn't just promise better tap water taste (a heroic objective in itself); it also takes on climate change and water reuse. One can only hope that future generations will drink clean, crisp water just by opening the tap.

Education? Covered. The 2024-2030 National Education Strategy aims to provide quality, inclusive education for all - something we've been hearing since the blackboard era, but this time with extra buzzwords.

There's even a National Sexual Health Strategy (yes, that too) running from 2025 to 2030, which aims to ensure sexual and reproductive well-being regardless of gender, orientation, or socio-economic status. It's inclusive, intersectional, and forward-looking.

Lest anyone accuse the government of ignoring mental health, we also have a Suicide Prevention Strategy, which builds on earlier frameworks and attempts to respond to Malta's evolving demographic and post-COVID realities.

And it was only last Wednesday that the government announced that it is working on a five-year strategy related to alcohol.

So far, so strategic, so good.

But here's the rub: while the government appears hyperactive in publishing strategies for virtually everything under the sun, there remains a list - an important one - that somehow never makes it to the government agenda. No glossy PDF. No ministerial photo-shoot. No press conference with a hashtag campaign.

Where, for instance, is the Strategy for Good Governance?

Surely, if we can project what our transport needs will be in 2050, we could hazard a guess at how to address the chronic issues of corruption and nepotism today. Or perhaps this falls under the category of "too realistic"?

What about a Rule of Law Strategy? One might assume that after the global attention surrounding Malta's legal system - or lack thereof - such a plan would be fast-tracked. But no, the rule of law seems destined to remain a concept, not a policy document.

And while we're on the subject of accountability: remember the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry? It made concrete recommendations - improvements to institutional independence, better protection for journalists, safeguards against political interference. There's been much nodding and murmuring from the corridors of power, but we're yet to see a formal, strategic response. Shouldn't implementing the recommendations of a state-commissioned inquiry form part of a national strategy? Or is that asking too much?

And where is the Media Freedom Strategy - you know, the one that would protect journalists instead of making their lives harder? We had a bill - number 17, to be precise - presented in Parliament nearly three years ago, but it was so poor that it stalled at the first hurdle, and no effort has been made to see it improved, much less implemented.

Even more baffling is the lack of a plan to strengthen institutions. If anything, recent legislative changes seem geared more towards weakening them - take, for example, the new restrictions on how a magisterial inquiry can be requested. Instead of empowering citizens and civil society, legal mazes and bureaucratic barriers have been created.

And what of transparency? Accountability? If there's a 10-year plan to make water taste better, why can't we get a plan that makes politicians more honest? Perhaps a strategy to ensure that declarations of assets are tabled - regularly, publicly, and with consequences for those who fail to comply? Or is this one of those "unmeasurable targets" that Vision 2050 so tactfully avoids?

Let's be clear: no one's against long-term planning. On the contrary, we need it. And many of the strategies listed above are commendable, at least on paper. But governance isn't just about traffic management and better sex education. It's also about integrity, accountability, and the health of democratic institutions.

If the government can put together multi-year plans with action points to encourage parents to spend more time with their children, surely it can find the bandwidth to draft a plan for how to deal with politicians who misuse public funds. If we can forecast our renewable energy needs for the next decade, we should be able to outline how the system could work better to punish politicians who misbehave.

Because if we keep ignoring these essential pillars of democracy while paving the way (sometimes literally) for every other sector, we may end up with world-class sewage treatment, but still no one we trust to run the country.

So here's a proposal: let's draw up a Strategy for Strategies. One that sets out not just the importance of infrastructure, family life, or water quality - but also the foundations upon which everything else rests: rule of law, justice, transparency, and good governance.