They want it all... and now

A self-employed fa­ther of five told me last week that, in order to im­prove his small family business, he applied for a lands department and Malta Tourism Authority permit to set up some tables and chairs by his kiosk.

… the PN has this fixation with wanting to know the policies of a party which can only be implemented in 20 months’ time or so- Helena Dalli

As a matter of procedure the said government entities write to the local council for approval. Since no inconvenience would be caused to the public, the local council had no problem with this particular case. The kiosk owner was granted the necessary permit on a Friday, the eve of the divorce law referendum, only for it to be withdrawn the following Monday. When he asked why, he was told that there was a mistake. He checked the relevant information – upon which he was granted the permit – and it was correct.

His wife insists that this was another ploy reminiscent of those played on the eve of the 2008 election “to get our vote”. I told her that was far-fetched albeit I have been told of other cases of favours-for-votes exchanges even though this was merely a referendum on divorce law, and it is a fact that the PN had both the party and government mechanism in full electoral gear for this referendum.

True also, that the timing fits perfectly, and there’s a lot I wouldn’t put past the PN especially when in a tight corner. The reason I am doubtful about the motivation in this case – which is contrary to the way of doing politics Lawrence Gonzi had promised, but please do not say this to Molly Bordonaro – is because I am frequently told similar stories about a lack of cooperation with small businesses. To me, this is but the most recent example where the government, instead of supporting people who take the initiative and set up a business, however small, does things which discourage them.

What I’m writing here is what I hear in people’s homes and in my offices. It is symptomatic of a malaise that’s ailing the government. This goes to show how disconnected the government is from many families trying to pull through. It is cut off to the extent that at times the government leaves these men and women no option but to give up and go and register as unemployed. This, while repeating the mantra that small businesses are the motor of our economy.

The experiences of various self-employed people as recounted to me are corroborated by data coming from research such as the recently published Global Competitiveness Report (2011-2012) compiled by the World Economic Forum. We fare badly for instance when it comes to transparency of government policymaking and we do well with regard to favouritism in decisions of government officials. It seems that Malta government transparency is only very good with the American Ambassador.

The report goes on to speak about the bad quality of our roads, the burden of government regulation, the deficit in the participation rate of women in the labour market, the low tertiary education enrolment rate and the poor capacity for innovation.

The pro-government media with vested interests report none of this, instead they put pressure on Labour to tell them what it would do once in government, even though this could be nearly two years away. These so-called political strategists are certainly not impressing people trying to make the ends of their business meet, as what the latter primarily need to know are this government’s policies affecting their businesses now.

The Global Competitiveness Report points out to us that there exist difficulties encountered by businesses to obtain information about changes in government policies and regulations impinging on their activities. Yet, as mentioned, the PN has this fixation with wanting to know the policies of a party which can only be implemented in 20 months’ time or so.

The PN and its supporters ask for details of the policies of the opposition, knowing full well that the government is not even addressing the problems businesses have today. Not only that, conditions are bound to change, thus making policies Labour may be considering today irrelevant in the scenario of two years from now.

The kiosk owner, left in the government policy wilderness, is representative of people striving to earn a living for their families, only to have bureaucratic doors shut in their faces. There is data which shows that the performance of small and medium enterprises has slipped below the EU average, and while SMEs in the EU member states contributed towards an increase in employment, in Malta the number of people working in SMEs decreased.

This doesn’t seem to perturb the Prime Minister and his Cabinet; what does keep them awake at night is their yearning for Labour’s policy programme. They want it all and they want it now.

helenadalli@gmail.com

Dr Dalli is shadow minister for the public service, government investments and gender equality.