Though in Malta we enjoy living in a democracy with full respect for human rights, it is an open secret that the two political parties cater more to win votes and elections than for the common good.

There are many important issues on which the parties decide to try and win more votes rather than to work together and solve overdue problems. To name but three: one is the festering boathouse saga that has been with us for more than a lifetime. As in many other ‘vote winning’ issues, the land robbers overruled all past governments and continued to enjoy what is not theirs, encouraging more irresponsible people to grab more public land where to have their ‘boathouses’.

Eddie Fenech Adami’s government made a feeble attempt to stop this festering problem but, again, these people won against a democratic government backed by the police and soldiers. It was a humiliation of the first order.

Second, almost everybody is aware that the government of the day sides more with building contractors than with environmentalists and NGOs. The latest news with regard to development points to more hotels, apartments, garages and you name it, in ODZ areas.

As we have been saying for a long time, the little countryside left will soon be lost forever to the hungry money grubbers.

It is a shame and a dark blot on the government.

The third contentious problem in which votes come before the common good is free healthcare.

Many experts, such as Malcolm Booker, chief executive officer of Deloitte, are of the opinion that this matter should be looked into once and for all. He says there should be means testing for the use of health facilities.