The it's-my-party syndrome

There are increasing signs that Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is running the government as if it were his own party. The Nationalist Party did win the general election by a light lick and Dr Gonzi is the leader of that party. But, as Prime Minister, he is expected to serve the country, not the party, to listen to the voice of the people, not merely to that of his party HQ, to put the national interest first and foremost.

Examples abound that he is not doing that. It is clear that he has decided to govern with studied silence. To ignore criticism, even when it comes from quarters completely detached from politics. To challenge and seek to overturn criticism coming from the opposition is part of the political game as practised in Malta. To ignore the voice of segments of the people who put forward articulately argued cases is something else again.

The Prime Minister displayed a duck's back to attacks by the opposition on the way the Enemalta extension contract was given to BWSC. That is not exactly democratic, especially when the opposition produced a lot of external evidence which should have made Enemalta and the government reflect more deeply on the matter, not least to the fact that companies with corruption in their CV were linked to the project.

Worse still was the way the government brushed off stinging analysis made by the Auditor General in his report on the issue. Even that was not the end of the story. The public has just been reminded of that by the Friends of the Earth. The "green" organisation has written to the Broadcasting Authority requesting airtime to allow it to counter advertisements broadcast by Enemalta to praise the power station extension lock, stock and barrel. Such adverts were paid out of public funds, for Enemalta, with some €600 million debts guaranteed by the government, is a burden on all taxpayers. The adverts also gave a twisted picture. Friends of the Earth wants the opportunity to raise awareness on a number of concerns which were not brought up in Enemalta's spin campaign.

Will the Broadcasting Authority give the NGO due airtime?

Not if it follows the example set by the government. Three months ago, Friends of the Earth and other NGOs declared Enemalta's decision to use heavy oil was irresponsible. The NGOs expressed concern at the hazardous waste this would create, which waste is to be exported to third countries. The Prime Minister, his government and Enemalta ignored the NGOs. They were not deterred. On June 24, they once again called for a solution to the power station sludge. They warned that the extension would produce about a tonne of fuel oil sludge per day. This sludge, they said, could not be disposed of with other hazardous waste because of its physical and chemical nature.

The NGOs, after providing more warnings, called for the Delimara extension to work on diesel instead of heavy oil. They observed that the Finance Ministry's assertion that the use of diesel would raise electricity bills by 30 per cent was completely wrong. They explained in detail why.

The government ignored them. The rule it's-my-party-and-I-do-as-I-want-to blared out, without any regard to the people's health. The slight was extended to non-political organisations. It was not the only one. Non-political probing questions about the White Rocks deal with a foreign consortium reverberate daily. Dr Gonzi and his team continue to ignore them.

The Prime Minister did the same thing in regard to the Valletta City Gate project. The voices raised against fundamental aspects of the Renzo Piano plans far outweigh those raised in favour. Dr Gonzi was not moved. He threw a sop to the intellectuals who criticised the open-air theatre factor but even that turned out to be made of dust.

We shall now have a walled city without a gate, a theatre without a roof, a new Parliament which could have been located in an existing Valletta historical building and one on stilts against the Valletta bastions for that matter.

This is no way to run a country. The director general of the Malta Employers' Association flatly said the government was urinating on the memory of the association's founder. It is doing more than that. Much of Malta has been turned into a urinal.