A mountain to climb

As the people brace themselves to face a brave New Year, they are being told by their leaders that this year will be decisive for their own and their children's future.

It is in the nature of politicians of all shades to assume the role of stargazers as if they are searching the heavens for inspiration.

The average elector, who is a mere mortal, is, on the whole, earthy. In an atmosphere of intellectual freedom and in an environment filled with the pungent smell of car emissions, worried by the bite of taxation and the erosion of his residual income by rising prices, he tends to have his own order of priorities. This may not coincide with that which grips the politicians.

Political attention is now sharply focused on an imminent referendum to be followed by the general election. The ruling Fenech Adami administration, which negotiated Malta's terms for EU membership, is asking for electoral endorsement. The MLP opposition, led by Alfred Sant, wants a loose relationship with the EU in the form of partnership - one short of formal EU membership.

Each side gives the other no quarter and the debate becomes more and more intense, ranging from the issue of sovereignty, to the issue of neutrality, to taxation, living costs and whether or not Malta will be a net, overall beneficiary.

As the din of battle intensifies, and as the party propaganda machines and the broadcasting and print media maximise their outpourings, democracy will have to jump over the first hurdle.

Whichever way it goes, the electorate will be called upon to decide who will run the affairs of state for the ensuing five years.

In essence, the overriding issue is whether there is going to be a change of direction in more senses than one and whether the electorate will insist that certain politicians descent from Cloud Nine and apply themselves to the more immediate concerns of the people.

These concerns have been building up over the years. Taken in the mass, they have been building up to crisis point, most eloquently encapsulated in a speech by the executive president of Din l-Art Helwa almost a year ago (February 23, 2002).

Echoing the sentiments of the average citizen, Martin Scicluna referred to our 2,000-kilometre road network which is a stark reminder of decades of under-investment and lack of maintenance.

He highlighted "the offence caused to our eyes, and to our visitors' eyes, by the shabbiness in our streets and our countryside, the uncompleted speculative developments, many of them a monument to our greed, the uncompleted infrastructural projects cheek by jowl with four- and five-star hotels - making five-star dumps - the litter on our streets and beaches, the broken pavements, the potholed streets, the inadequate water drainage, the cat's cradle of discarded telephone wires..."

Then there is the dumping that scars miles of our countryside (including in the midst of our archaeological and ecological sites), the many broken-down rubble walls, the despoliation of so much of our villages, the rusted drums and abandoned cars, the illegal hunters' hides, and other structures littering our countryside as well as our prime historic sites, over 65 illegal quarries, the rape of our seaside resorts, the generally shabby historic sites as well as the abandonment of many of our historic fortifications.

As if this were not enough, Mr Scicluna referred to the life-threatening effects of pollution.

What is critically at stake, he added, is a gross income to Malta of Lm270 million, over Lm340 million generated by tourism in foreign exchange earnings and 41,000 jobs depending on the industry. In the environmental and heritage fields, we are in danger of killing the goose that lays the golden egg, as well as inflicting a terrible injury to our quality of life and that of generations to come.

Mr Scicluna then stated the obvious: "We have a mountain to climb and we appear to be faltering."

The crux of the matter is that, in the environmental and heritage fields, Malta has suffered for many years from endemic organisational and systematic deficiences in the way the machinery of government is established and set up to deal with these matters. Malta has suffered the consequences of poor governance, poor organisation, a lack of adequate human and financial resources and a lack of proper prioritisation and coordination.

In the final analysis, successive ministers must be held responsible. But responsibility must be shared by the civil service which often gave "the impression, rightly or wrongly, of generally hoping that there will be no movement on any subject with the law of inverse relevance applying: the less you intend to do about something, the more you have to keep writing reports about it. Obfuscation and delay have been made into an art form".

The media made the ritual noises when Mr Scicluna delivered his broadside a year ago. In certain political circles, embarrassment was discernible from the muted reaction. Garrulous commentators and broadcasters looked the other way.

None of this leads to the conclusion that the laments voiced by Mr Scicluna and their like fell on stony ground.

Electoral concern has been building up. Frustration must have been aggravating this concern which could not be summarily wiped out by visible deliverables.

Malta badly needs a new broom. New ideas and willing hands, determined to sweep all vestiges of a decrepit political class, will set us loose from the forces of the status quo.

The thought of such prospects is liberating. Exhilarating though it could be, it is only potentially meaningful at election time.

That time is at hand.