As 2014 ends and we mark the beginning of the New Year, we cannot but draw the main strands from the political scene in Malta and reflect on their significance, not just for the past year but also for the year that lies ahead.
Last year ended with the unprecedented forcing out of a ‘star’ minister in the Labour government. A numerically strong government in Parliament lost one of its foremost ministers in his driver’s shooting saga, which showed the Labour government and the Prime Minister for what they are: trying every way they can to shift their responsibilities through spin and smokescreens.
If it were not for the Opposition, its own resurgent media and the independent media, Manuel Mallia would still be minister in Joseph Muscat’s Cabinet.
It was 19 days too late that the Prime Minister did what the Opposition had told him to do from the very start, and what he couldn’t avoid to do with the continuing revelations in the media of the shooting affair, which had much more to it than the government spun just after the shooting incident.
As an Opposition, we ended last year as an effective and credible Opposition. But that’s only because we have kept government to account after two years during which the Labour government and Prime Minister have barefacedly broken their promises of transparency, meritocracy and accountability. These three promises have now become a joke.
I know that the Prime Minister’s view of Opposition, now that he is in government, is that of being a cheerleader for the government. But that’s not what the institution of the Opposition in our parliamentary democracy is all about. Opposition is about keeping government to account.
I also know the Prime Minister believes that if he finds some defect in the previous government, with his spin machine then blaming it on Simon Busuttil, that gives him licence to commit much worse. But that’s the stuff of the worst form of politics which tries to find an excuse for doing worse rather than draw lessons for doing better.
The Opposition won’t shy away from criticising several of Muscat’s ministers who are embroiling themselves in what can only be called sleaze
The Opposition won’t shy away from criticising several of Muscat’s ministers who are embroiling themselves in what can only be called sleaze. Several come to mind, but Chris Cardona’s behaviour from the very start of the casino licence saga reeks of filth, and worse. Wrapping up the saga between Christmas and the New Year won’t hide it away.
Neither shall we shy away from criticising the way government is keeping petrol and diesel prices artificially high despite the steep drop in the crude oil price. A Prime Minister not delivering a new power station in two months’ time as he promised and not resigning as he promised is making us pay when we fill our cars at the petrol pumps.
Compared to fuel prices in Malta when the crude oil price was this low, we are now paying €30 for the fuel we used to buy for €20 then.
This is how a government that lacks economic direction and vision is working.
This government inherited an economy that did well in the worst of times during the world economic and financial crisis after 2008.
That was because the government then had the courage to attract new sectors to Malta, laying down their incentives, physical and educational infrastructure years ahead.
That’s why one of the biggest contributors to economic growth right now is the gaming industry which the previous government had painstakingly developed as one of several industries that have transformed Malta’s economy.
But driving the economy with well-performing industries established by the previous government is not enough. And we are seeing no economic vision from this government amid ballooning public sector employment and, consequently, of public debt as well.
Malta should be doing better, much better. We need to give our vibrant private sector the economic direction and certainty that can make it thrive. We need to be developing new sectors that will be providing employment in five and 10 years’ time when our teenagers will be seeking good jobs.
We need open and honest politics in an open and honest Malta. Much of what is happening in Malta right now is giving the impression of a less open government, and a less honest government.
What I promise is an even more active and effective Opposition. Active in developing its own blueprint for our economy and the way we do politics in our country; effective in holding the government to account for its actions. An Opposition that serves our democracy and that serves you, as a citizen.
Simon Busuttil is Opposition leader.