After almost two weeks into this year’s electoral campaign, I think I can see where the two main political parties are coming from. Not from the land of problems to the land of problems but from the land of problems to heaven on earth.
The open-ended financial commitment for free health services should be a serious concern for all- Michael Falzon
Even though no party has as yet published its electoral programme, I sense that these documents will be avoiding many issues that cannot be solved without inducing an ungrateful dose of unpopularity in return. Yet those who will make it to the top and start running the country come mid-March will certainly find them on their plate.
The two parties should therefore say something about how they are going to get to grips with these issues:
The open-ended financial commitment for free health services should be a serious concern for all. All political parties insist that these services will remain free and there is no way that Maltese citizens will start paying for state healthcare – not even a token payment.
Personally, I think there is no way the Maltese state can keep on paying for this service, whatever the cost. Can this really be done with the Maltese population becoming more of an ageing one and with average life expectancy consistently increasing?
What about the reforms in the pension system? Our pension system has already been tweaked with the retirement age being raised in certain instances. Is this enough, or do we need to make further reforms as the number of pensioners increases while the number of people entering the job market decreases? What is being proposed in this sector?
Our democratic institutions need reforms to be decided upon after some serious thinking. The checks and balances between the three branches of the state – the executive, the legislative and the judiciary – need to be strengthened.
Are the parties happy to stick to our current electoral system?
Are they prepared to consider the appointment of unelected technocrats as ministers?
Should the way magistrates and judges are appointed be reformed and how do the parties propose to do this?
Party financing has to be somehow regulated by law. Party funding is now being perceived as leading to officialised corruption, with donations being considered as an investment. The electoral system speaks only of candidates and imposes ridiculous limits on the expenditure candidates are allowed for their individual campaigns. Apart from the fact that this limit is ignored by all and sundry, there is no limit on the electoral spending of a political party and neither is there any obligation for parties to divulge their sources of funds.
Our policies on illegal immigration have been pilloried by all international human rights organisations. This is a problem that will remain with us for as long as there is strife and economic depression in Africa and the Middle East. Is integration of different ethnic groups with different cultures and beliefs on the cards? Can political parties come clean on this, irrespective of whether they lose votes or not?
Are the two parties satisfied with the way the police are responsible for investigating crimes while also exercising the discretion to decide whom to prosecute?
Should the Police Commissioner remain responsible directly to the minister of the day?
Are there any proposals regarding the whole aspect of the fight against criminality while respecting the rights of suspects and accused. Is the need for a major overhaul in this area going to be ignored?
Do the political parties realise that the country’s regulatory institutions and mechanisms – chiefly set up to comply with EU law – are mostly failing the consumer? Do they understand that the our regulatory approach is a prescriptive and ambiguous one whereby the regulatory body requests a lot of data and reports and then simply sits on the gathered information?
Malta is still a licensing state, with the idea that licences are ‘handed out’ at the pleasure of the state on payment of the relative fees that are considered to be more of a revenue-raising exercise than payment for the service that the regulator gives to both the consumer and the service provider.
Despite the millions of euros spent in the education sector, our policies on education are failing us in the case of children coming from depressed areas.
The increase in the number of students moving on to tertiary education has been impressive. But those coming from socially depressed areas are a small fraction that does not reflect the actual population of these areas.
Why should a child from Attard have a better chance of moving into tertiary education than a child from Cottonera? What do the parties propose to do about this?
The way future administrations tackle these problems will have a very important impact on the future development of our society. These are problems that cannot be ignored. But will they be conveniently forgotten in the electoral programmes of our political parties?
We have already had enough talk on gas – so where’s the beef?
micfal@maltanet.net