Greenwash and hogwash

In politics one can rely on greenwash without resorting to hogwash. But in the case of "our" government, it has mastered the dubious art of doing both at the same time.

After boasting of the intensive consultation process underway in connection with its freshly-minted solid waste strategy document, the government only managed to attract to a consultation meeting 25 citizens from the southern parts of the island that are likely to "host" a waste-hungry incinerator in their midst.

After many pressing demands from our side, the Prime Minister finally owned up on the emissions of the existing power plants at Delimara and Marsa and admitted that, although a tender has been issued to provide for the installation of "automated measuring systems", after all these years Enemalta has so far not yet started measuring the concentration of particulate matter and other hazardous substances that result from the plants' gas emissions.

While the Minister for Finance refrained from replying to a question of mine on the gambling outlets that have mushroomed all over the island in the past months, the same minister told the press on the same day that the arcades' lack of legal status made it hard for the police to enforce the law.

Logic normally dictates that when something is determined to be illegal it should make it easier for the police to come down on them like a ton of bricks!

When people in the IT business tipped me off that the post of CEO at Mita - the Malta Information Technology Agency -remained vacant for months and was predestined to remain so even in coming months, the minister owned up in Parliament and confirmed that while the previous CEO's contract was terminated on the January 9, even though the deputy CEO assumed the role of Acting CEO on the 19th of the same month, until the present day no calls for applications to fill the post have been issued.

Recently, reports filtered in that the Transport Authority had introduced a late renewal charge regarding both road licences and car registrations only to realise that they had failed to first put in place the necessary legal notices.

A few days later a circular was issued and instructions were given to stop this irregular practice and even refund fines collected. When I raised this issue in the House, Minister Gatt gave me one of his most enlightening replies: "Nikkonferma" (I confirm)!

In spite of repeated questions in the House, so far my endeavours to determine government policy on feed-in tariffs regarding alternative energy plants have proved to be fruitless. All I wanted to know was when the government will establish such a policy and whether they will be either preferential rates or else based on a 1:1 basis.

When I asked when will the country eventually have an accrual accounting system in place, the minister first fed me the hogwash that our national accounts have been presented according to the European System of Accounts since 1995, only to later admit that a tender still has to be issued for the computing switch-over from cash basis accounting to take place. This is unlikely to happen before mid-summer, something that I consider to be dismal.

After having learnt through the media of the announced nuclear cooperation between the Italian and French governments by way of possible joint ventures between Enel and EDF, which could easily result in nuclear plants being set up relatively close to home, I tried to find out the government's position on this accord. The Prime Minister replied in a detached mode that the Maltese government was merely following these developments. Predictably, not a hint was dropped as to whether it is doing so actively or passively!

It might be intriguing to read a report about the feasibility of artificial islands but did you ever realise that, although Mepa chose to commission such a report, my request to have it tabled in the House was politely turned down? The only enlightenment that was provided was that the study cost the taxpayer nothing less than €403,000. Try and figure out the cost benefit.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Resources Minister George Pullicino confirmed that most of our hazardous waste was being exported to China. Later, the Prime Minister said that the major part of our hazardous waste was being exported to Europe, primarily Germany. Can anyone shed some light on who has been misleading the public: the Prime Minister or Mr Pullicino?

If proof were ever needed of the confusion resulting from the redistribution of certain key portfolios we have a situation where, in spite of the Prime Minister being the Minister for Sustainable Development, the national commission's strategy document on sustainable development has appeared so far on the Ministry of Resources' website while, notwithstanding the fact that we now have the Minister of Resources also handling the climate portfolio, there are presently far more employees working on climate change issues at Mepa (which falls under the Prime Minister's brief).

All these inconsistencies, information gaps and lack of coordination show that this government has honed its skills of combining greenwash with hogwash. Even if we forget for a moment that they still cannot decide among themselves whether to be hard or soft on Libya on illegal immigration!

Mr Brincat is a Labour member of Parliament.

brincat.leo@gmail.com