Two years into the Muscat government, the jury is still out whether Malta is better off. While Labour can be lauded for keeping the economy on track – no mean feat in these days of eurozone turmoil – it has needlessly defaulted on the most basic things.
First the good: this government has kept unemployment in check, adopted a policy of continuity in foreign policy, strengthened civil liberties, kick-started justice and education reform, reduced exorbitant utility bills (though in the face of falling oil prices that might have happened anyway), honoured a Nationalist pledge to cut income tax and is clamping down on benefit fraud.
The government’s pro-business economic policy is to be welcomed, as is the latest economic forecast for Malta by the European Commission which has predicted dynamic growth and low unemployment; it is estimated that the country’s GDP growth in 2014 reached 3.3 per cent. The Commission also projected a sustained fall in both the deficit and debt ratios.
One thing for which this government cannot be faulted is its impressive rate of speed. But whether it’s the cost of speed or sheer incompetence, we have seen Labour failing badly when it comes to good governance, transparency and protecting the environment. It has also exercised poor judgement far too often.
We have known for some time now that it has no intention of living up to its ‘Malta belongs to us all’ electoral slogan. This was a blatant con. Worthy individuals in the public service have been either sidelined or felt the need to resign due to their political affiliation. Meanwhile, the credentials of many of the government’s political appointments have been questionable at best. In its first year of office it mishandled the citizenship scheme spectacularly, and since then we have seen a chronicle of errors.
The fact that Labour MPs have been given executive roles, moreover, smacks of ‘jobs for the boys’ and blurs the distinction between the executive and the backbench. Amateurism is present in too many areas of government.
We have seen the (needless) undoing of important enforcement entities like the police force, the army and the planning authority. There seems to be almost carte blanche that illegalities will be condoned... or will eventually be sanctioned in the form of an amnesty.
You cannot blame the law-abiding citizen for feeling short-changed by Dr Muscat’s pre-electoral pledge that he would adopt a new style of politics. After two years, it is no longer acceptable to hear the Prime Minister admitting that mistakes happen because his government is still learning.
The Labour government’s complete pandering to the building industry and the hunting lobby as well as its disregard for the environment is one of the most disappointing aspects of this administration.
Meanwhile, the Café Premier scandal is the latest case – in an increasingly long list – of bad governance and lack of transparency.
A National Audit Office report tabled in Parliament concluded there were various shortcomings in the government deal to buy back the public lease of this establishment in Valletta for €4.2 million that “detract from the prudence expected”, and the Prime Minister himself has not given an acceptable explanation as to why he became personally involved in the issue.
The worst thing about this government is the attitude – arrogance – it has created among those who voted for it two years ago, who now expect – actually they demand – a bounty for services rendered.
Personal gain has become a sole priority for many, irrespective of the erosion of standards it brings with it, not to mention the damage this approach will eventually do to the country – even if the Prime Minister himself remains unscathed in the immediate term as he’s still riding a wave of popularity.