It was this time last year that Parliamentary Secretary Chris Fearne decided to mix politics with breast milk at a National Breastfeeding Policy Consultation Seminar, in the hope of banning the promotion of breast milk substitutes for babies below the age of six months.

I remember being mildly irritated by the whole thing – the way I always am when men (or the government) poke their noses into a realm which is essentially female and private. And of course this is one area where women definitely have a leg to stand on (and two mammary glands more than your average male, who will never know the meaning of engorged breasts or mastitis).

Besides, I have news for Fearne – breast milk is not always best – especially when mixed with caffeine, alcohol and other unhealthy habits over which he can’t possibly have any control.

At the time I very nearly wrote about it, but then didn’t, and never imagined I’d be writing about it a year later. I have no idea how that particular policy worked out for the parliamentary secretary; but I do remember something he had said at the time which I knew I’d use, and milk, in years to come.  I quote:

“I hope we won’t be forced to enact a legal notice and send wardens to patrol doctors’ clinics to make sure that breast milk substitutes for mothers of infants under six months of age are not being advertised. But if needs be, we will enact legislation to enforce it.”

I don’t recall anyone else picking up on the significance of that particular pearl of propaganda, but for me it was a moment of great clarity and truth: a confirmation that whatever the government wants to do, it will, no holds barred; that the government has the power to send wardens wherever and whenever, and if need be, enact legislation to enforce whatever it is that it wants to curb, combat or control.

Fast-forward a year. Fearne and the rest of his government might wish to substitute a different formula for that of breast milk – the garbage and litter that are rife everywhere and far more urgent.

When it comes to littering and flouting collection times, there’s uncharacteristic impotence and complacency and a lot of excuses

The government really needs to get a serious handle on this public health issue and also address the blight, both rural and urban, caused by unsightly rubbish.

In my last article, I made it very clear that I was dead serious about thrashing out the trash: I want to confront Malta’s litter problem once and for all.

Unless the government is committed to solving it, this is not something that is going to go away on its own – and neither am I.

I am driven by this as I have ever been or am ever going to be. When my son tells me to get a life and stop photographing garbage, I tell him that it’s quality of life that I’m after. As a tax-paying citizen living in the supposedly democratic West, I believe I am entitled to that.

While traffic and public transport are also challenges this government has inherited and needs to fix, they don’t stink; or if they do, it’s the metaphorical smell of bad governance and poor decisions. When it comes to litter and garbage, quite apart from the smells and squalor, there is the very serious matter of hygiene.

Yes, something definitely stinks in Sliema, St Julian’s and in a great many other places. It’s the ever-increasing scourge of litter on the island and the smell of too many recalcitrant residents’ garbage bags. These are taken out hours before collection time and left to fester all day long, even as long as 48 hours.

If the government can get its knickers in a twist about the benefits of breast milk and send wardens to patrol clinics to ensure its policies are being implemented, I’m pretty sure it can send wardens to patrol the streets of Sliema (for starters) and clamp down on this rampant abuse. This is Sliema not Greater London.

All you need is half a dozen (plain clothes) wardens patrolling the area, one street at a time.

Empower them to open garbage bags and search. Get them to hang around, ring doorbells. Have them fine people on the spot. Enact legislation, making it compulsory for all apartment blocks to have a Residents’ Association where residents are responsible in solidum for any breach that occurs.

Word will spread like wildfire. In a couple of weeks, the streets will be cleaner – I guarantee it.

Even if wardens don’t actually do anything except make nuisances of themselves, they’ll still be a deterrent. If you’ve ever moved house in Malta, you’ll know exactly what I mean – Maltese bureaucracy worthy of Switzerland.

There are rules and regulations which have to be followed. Everything is micro-managed. But when it comes to littering and flouting collection times, there’s uncharacteristic impotence and complacency and a lot of excuses.

There’s also divided opinion on the matter of garbage collection. There are those, like me, who favour an early morning collection that gets rubbish out of sight and mind for the rest of the day; and those, like the Sliema council, which prefers evening or late collection. I feel that a night-time collection lends itself to disobedience and fly-tipping. But whatever the time of collection, there has to be draconian enforcement – otherwise the system will be sabotaged.

Considering how heavily we rely on tourism, I simply don’t understand how we have let matters get this far. Unfortunately, I rather fear that, for something to happen, things have to get even uglier.

There will probably have to be a major political embarrassment to stir the government. What will it take, I wonder?

A few tell-it-like-it-is pictures of the real Malta in Condé Nast or the Wall Street Journal, letting the world know the real deal about that little place in the sun.

www.facebook.com/cleanupouractinsliema

michelaspiteri@gmail.com

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