Policy – not prodding tusk – needed

That was the week that was, as a UK television programme used to put it. The ripples caused by the related events persist. The action came from the public transport reform fiasco, particularly in its first 100 days, under the political responsibility of Austin Gatt.

What is needed is not prime-ministerial crisis management to prioritise public transport to try to save face, but a proper traffic policy- Lino Spiteri

The minister grandiloquently described the form as revolutionary. He assumed the leading role, political and to an unnecessary extent operational, to bring it about.

Change was significant to the extent that the new buses have emission-free engines and are air-conditioned. Beyond that, no revolution was involved. Transport remains a question of getting from point A to destination B in the shortest feasible time.

In that regard the first months of the reform failed miserably. Waiting times multiplied. Arrival times to destinations grew longer and longer. Chopping and changing made things worse.

Finally, the minister and Transport Malta had to implicitly admit they had bungled and ended up changing 79 per cent of the routes.

Gatt did not quite say so. He attributed the failure of the system he had personally championed to the people’s ignorance, as he saw it. The system was too avant garde, he declared.

Reflecting popular dissatisfaction, the Labour opposition proposed a motion of no-confidence in Gatt. Instead of pre-empting the debate by realistically – if not humbly – assuming political responsibility, for which he is democratically accountable, Gatt pooh-poohed the motion.

The minister, cocking a snook at public opinion, revealed that he had inexplicably rejected an offer by executives at Transport Authority to resign. As if that was not bad enough, the Prime Minister too said, fully four weeks after the event, that Gatt had also indicated a readiness to resign. The offer does not seem to have been made in writing.

The PM charged that the opposition was irresponsible for moving a no-confidence motion when there were so many problems in the eurozone which could affect Malta, with which the government had to deal.

A Nationalist MP, Franco Debono, who believes in accountability, did not agree. He stressed that Gatt, as happens in all democracies, must assume political responsibility, or he would abstain on the opposition no-confidence motion.

Having found all internal channels blocked, he did just that, only to be publicly berated by no less an august Nationalist figure than President Emeritus Eddie Fenech Adami, though he himself apparently felt the so-called transport reform was “a mess”.

That is where the week-that-was started. The Prime Minister continued to harp on the external situation and to press-gang his MPs into supporting Gatt. He did not go into why Gatt, if his revolutionary project had been truly revolutionary in the positive sense, had offered to resign.

Rather, just after he had expressed confidence in Gatt over the transform reform, he took over operational responsibility for by appointing a task force, headed by him. It is to be a sort of tusk sharply to prod the reform along, even at this late stage when the teething troubles should long be over.

That was like a Maltese petard with multiple bangs. It showed lack of confidence by Gonzi in Gatt’s ability to get the reform right, even at this late stage. It reflected a political desire to demonstrate who was boss.

And it signified that the opposition and Debono were right, after all, to reflect the public’s dissatisfaction and concern over the transport implementation fiasco. So much so that Gonzi dropped the chatter about the demands on him of the eurozone troubles, which have since grown.

In the process he gave another example of how a prime minister should not lead by blatantly showing his belief that his were the only ‘safe’ pair of hands. Ministers are appointed on the simple principle of division of political labour.

Fenech Adami, for instance, was careful to coordinate his ministers, to support them, yes, but to internally chide them – early on, through Richard Cachia Caruana – when he felt they were not living up to expectations.

I doubt that any seasoned Nationalist activist believes that Fenech Adami’s hands were any less safe than those of Gonzi. The Prime Minister has painted himself into a ludicrous corner. Instead of being hands-on through managing, he wants to be hands on through doing.

The early ‘doing’ is not impressive. The task force, which includes the head of the Armed Forces, suggests a country in wider crisis than that restricted to traffic. The first directive by the Prime Minister is patently wrong. He decreed that the task force should prioritise public transport in peak hours.

That might help the Arriva buses navigate congestion during those hours somewhat better, with the help of Armed Forces aerial surveillance.

What about, though, the many thousands of people who will continue to use their car during the rush hour, and other vehicles used to transport goods and personnel for various economic activities?

What is needed is not prime-ministerial crisis management to prioritise public transport to try to save face, but a proper traffic policy.

It should take into account given factors. Like the massive volume of licensed vehicles on the road – now 310,409, of which 76.7 per cent are private and 15.5 per cent commercial vehicles; the restricted width of town and village streets; the limited road network; the fact that a large part of the network is still in a parlous state – the government, with the help of EU funds, has rebuilt or is rebuilding some main arteries, but many others, and many roads and streets, are badly pot-holed and awry.

A proper traffic policy taking all that into account should be the responsibility of an efficient transport authority, with the responsible ministry given authority to coordinate with related public sector entities.

The Prime Minister should hold those involved accountable for performance, overseeing from up top, like Fenech Adami used to do.

Even if the country was not being buffeted by an external financial economic crisis which, the Prime Minister cried before the week-that-was, required his undivided attention.