Basking in continued economic growth, with the most recent positive forecasts coming from Standard and Poor’s, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna has heralded a new era for Maltese industry. He said that while the 1990s saw the rise of financial services and the early 2000s the iGaming industry, the government was now focused on attracting educational and healthcare companies and Asian investment.
Then, taking the cue from the memorandum of understanding the government signed with Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, and the ensuing press questions, Prof. Scicluna warned against a constantly “hovering” media that could put off potential investors. He urged journalists to instead take the “side of investment”, saying that Malta welcomed any investment with open arms. That was an indecent proposal.
No self-respecting media organisation can ever take the side of investment, or the side of anything else for that matter, by holding back from asking questions. It would be failing in its duty if it ever went down that path. That’s why the Prime Minister was so wrong when, at the Huawei signing, he told off a reporter,saying his line of questioning was not the way to behave in front of ‘foreign guests’. It was the right behaviour because the journalist’s questions were pertinent.
Recent events have shown that more scrutiny is required, and more questions should be asked – not just by the media – before welcoming investment to Malta. The shocking news that Italian police found direct links between a number of Malta-registered companies and the ’Ndrangheta shows that no system is foolproof. This scandal can do the iGaming industry far more harm and scare away far more investment than a keen journalist with a microphone. The Finance Minister is barking up the wrong tree.
There is, on the other hand, a way to avoid what Prof. Scicluna calls press harassment of potential investors, and that’s through government openness. One hallmark of this government has been the secretive way it operates when negotiating projects with foreign companies. There is a common pattern: everything is kept under wraps until a deal has been clinched and then a big launch is held.
The problem is that the spin that accompanies these launches is so overwhelming that it arouses suspicion. A government agreement with Barts on the opening of a medical school, was spun into a €200 million direct investment in Gozo, when it was not. An American university in Marsascala turned out to be Jordanian, and as for the Huawei investment in Smart City, it is so far a 10-man office. Therefore, the hype raises more media questions.
The government’s insistence on keeping agreements, contracts and even employment conditions close to its chest is another factor that makes the media hover and question everything the government tries to feed them. This country still does not know the content of the agreement reached between the government and Shanghai Electric Power. Why the secrecy when, according to Opposition leader, the Chinese company has no problem with having them published?
Transport Minister Joe Mizzi said in Parliament that he will not publish the Autobuses de Leon contract yet so as not to give the Opposition the opportunity to put “spokes in the wheels” of his public transport project.
This minister’s candid admission that secrecy is government’s way to ward off criticism is what should worry the Finance Minister – and not probing media questions. It should change its approach, as the worst thing that can happen is to breed suspicion and scare off investment.