People power

As I grow older I have come to realise that even the best cake turns sour after a time. After the first few years in power, any administration becomes insensitive to the people's needs.

Take the park and ride scheme. For years people have complained that to go into the city is a harrowing experience due to the lack of parking. What did the administration do? Create car parks? No sir. First they increased the road licence tax and now they have hatched a scheme to charge Lm2.40 a day for parking in Valletta. Are we to have a bigger army of people blatantly ignoring traffic fines?

Another thorn in the side of the people is the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. The dishonest developer is "fined" for building illegally and then gets his premises sanctioned, going on to make more money than he had built according to the permit. Is this fair? Is this justice? Have the people no power to stop these unscrupulous people? The architects perpetrating illegal development just laugh in Mepa's face. Do the inspectors who are supposed to supervise building development not notice anything wrong while construction is in progress for years at a stretch?

A certain smell - of unfairness (to say the least) - has pervaded the atmosphere. Decay has set in. Both political parties are riddled with it and the people are powerless. Complaints in the press, on the radio and TV are ignored. No one apologises or resigns because of these injustices.

It is about time the people did something about this situation. People in Italy have blocked the motorways. People in France do likewise and bend the politicians' will. Will it ever happen in Malta?