All grey in a black night

In a black night all cats look grey. After losing most of its credibility by promising very sweet oranges and delivering terribly bitter lemons, the Nationalist Party's undeclared strategy is: "the country is in a mess, the Nationalist Party is rather bad but the Labour Party is much worse."

The Nationalist Party does not want any meaningful policy discussion to take place in the open. They want to kill this kind of public debate by taking every policy document, which the Labour Party launches for party and national discussion, and conducting a misinformation campaign about it to scare the electors away from the Labour Party.

The Nationalist Party does not want politics carried out in a sober and rational manner, as it is afraid that it will lose more support by allowing people to reflect serenely about what is going on and to think hard about the available alternatives to move ahead.

Just two years ago the Nationalist Party was telling the people of Malta and Gozo that public finances were on a sound footing and millions would flow in from the European Union. Jobs and prosperity were guaranteed. Dramatic improvements were ahead in the environment, road network and all public services ranging from health, education and welfare services. All we had to do to live happily ever after was to return the PN to government.

As the majority was persuaded that Malta would benefit immensely by joining the EU and the Nationalist Party could present itself to the electorate draped in the alluring blue flag with yellow stars, the PN was returned to government.

We were told that bright days were ahead for Malta. Now that we are living in dark times and the PN has lost its glitter and looks grey, it wants the Labour Party, the only possible alternative government on these islands, to also look grey and lifeless, and incapable of offering the politics of hope that this country desperately needs.

Public finances are no longer on a sound footing. They never were but the PN used all kinds of deception to make people believe in a fake feel-good factor that has since evaporated. The whole republic has become very wobbly as taxes rise, unemployment soars, business confidence continues to dip and government cuts spending in education, health and welfare.

An increasing number of people feel that our country needs a change in government and a new lease of life. Even top PN activists feel that their party has been in government for too long, it has run out of ideas, energy and good ministers to run the country.

An increasing number of people who voted PN in April 2003 feel cheated. During the electoral campaign they had been promised gain and no pain. Back in government the PN has been delivering pain and no gain. Taxes are squeezing families hard. Many people in different sectors are feeling insecure in their jobs. The quality of life is falling. Public services and the environment continue to deteriorate. The country looks shabby. Government ministers are in disarray and policy making has become more haphazard and lacks co-ordination and coherence.

Millions of liri are being spent on servicing the public debt accumulated since 1987 by successive Nationalist governments run on a reckless policy of public expenditure. The 'Money no problem' policy was supported by a nonchalant attitude of 'Let future generations pay'.

While the government frantically tries to give the impression of trying to address the financial deficit, it is allowing the skills deficit to grow and thousands of young people are joining our unskilled and unemployable underclass every year. Even if new investment were to flow into our islands these young people would not have the right skills and competencies to get a job.

Better no elections at all

There is still no sign that the government is creating the right conditions for doing business in Malta and Gozo. Where is our economic growth going to come from?

This crucial question remains unanswered and as long as our economy does not start to grow again we cannot solve the structural deficit and public debt problems. Without strong economic growth we cannot create jobs. Without strong economic growth we cannot improve public services, safeguard the environment, maintain our quality of life and make it better.

While the governments of other countries, near and far, cut the burdens on companies and make it easier for them to operate and grow, the government in Malta continues to make the business climate more difficult, piling up more taxes and strangling companies with more and more regulations making it impossible for a new vibrant economy to emerge.

In a multiparty democracy citizens do not have to be held hostage to the PN all their lives. But the PN's strategy is to make all alternative policies look grey in the night that is upon us. They do not want citizens to use the ultimate and most eloquent weapon in a democracy: the vote.

The vote, even the thousands of those disenfranchised by the PN in Zejtun and Marsa for the coming local elections on Saturday, belongs to the citizens and is not the property of the party they have always supported. They are free to use it to elect people who will respect their rights and needs to represent them, and not cheat them.

The PN continues to spend more time and energy attacking their political adversaries to conserve power rather than tackling the real problems that the country is facing. The PN considers its political adversaries as the main problems that the country has and so use their resources to attack these adversaries while they allow the real problems of the country to pile up unsolved.

The PN has been good at winning elections but has proved incapable of using its political power to address successfully the problems facing the country. A growing number of our citizens want us to move on.

They are fed up of sloganeering and empty rhetoric. They demand tangible solutions to deeply felt problems. They expect political parties to show that they are better at attracting foreign investment and creating jobs, give a fresh lease of life to tourism, improve the quality of our environment to make this country worth living in once again, deliver good public services in education, health and welfare, and effective day-to-day administration, than at rubbishing each other.

The party in government has a duty to deliver in these areas. The party in opposition has a duty to become an alternative government and show how it would be better at governing the country.

Citizens must also play their part. In a multi-party democratic system like ours, where we choose not only the party but also the person we want in office, it is up to honest and hardworking citizens to deliver this country from corrupt and incompetent politicians. The country cannot face the tough challenges ahead and our quality of life cannot improve without good and effective policy-making and good governance on all levels.

The PN has done all it can to make people forget the situation in the country during this campaign and, incapable of attracting new support and conserving the support it has, has tried to scare away voters from other parties.

The PN does not want citizens to use the Saturday elections as a vote on the government performance. They do not want ordinary people to think about their bread and butter issues when they go out to vote on Saturday. In fact, the PN would have preferred not to have any elections at all on Saturday.

evaristbartolo@hotmail.com