You’d think that a government in such a big hurry to sell Malta and Maltese passports to the rest of the non-European world, would, at the very least, have seen to it that its Citizenship Department had its human resources and customer care services well in place before embarking on a talent-scouting citizenship scheme.
I have been trying to call the numbers that pop up on their ministerial website for well over two weeks, with no success. My e-mails have likewise been rejected and I’m informed their mailbox is full.
Don’t misunderstand me; getting through to this department has always been hellish. But I don’t think it’s ever been so bad. I spent the first 10 years of the millennium in a three-way, yo-yoing routine, going back and forth from the Citizenship Department to the Immigration Police and the Employment Training Corporation, renewing citizenship visas, employment licences and the like.
The whole thing was an ordeal, an extended exercise in moving the goal posts and a lesson in patience. Always so close and yet so very far. Just when you thought you were home free, there was always some hitch, that one outstanding document which materialised out of nowhere. And even when all the boxes were checked, for some arcane reason I never quite understood, getting that visa stamped was a mission impossible. You were always told to come back in three or six months, and this was announced with an almost perverse pleasure. Every time I went back, I always marvelled at the monumental mess and chaos that was our inaccessible and impenetrable Citizenship Department.
Intractable employees hid behind mountains of files and paperwork, while queues and more queues of people waited their turn. I still shudder at the thought – which is firmly etched in memory. So when I was recently asked to follow up on the citizenship application of a friend, who was born in the US to Maltese-born parents and grandparents, I had a feeling the matter wouldn’t be sorted out in a matter of a few minutes over a cordial telephone call, as he had hoped.
Nearly three weeks later, I have absolutely nothing to report back to my friend, who can’t understand why the citizenship papers that were promised to him in the mail months ago still haven’t arrived.
When you live in the US and commute for four out of 14 working hours, a 10-minute walk down the road would seem innocuous and unremarkable. Truthfully, I’d rather cross country and state than make that trip to the Evans building in Valletta, but seeing they don’t answer their phones or reply to e-mails, I’m going to have to go there in person.
Considering the hoops one goes through to get any sort of attention in that building and the bureaucracy and paperwork that goes into the mere application for a passport you are legally entitled to and eligible for – birth certificates, marriage certificates, employment history, your current and expired passports, extensive details of both your (deceased) parents – never, in my wildest dreams, would I have imagined that the day would come, when you’d be able to by-pass this, and more significantly buy this.
But, I suppose, everything has a price. That may be. But clearly, everything that has a price also comes at a price and we are now paying the price, for what is easily the government’s most stupid move to date. It had all the markings of a rushed, amateur and short-sighted decision they will live to regret.
The PN governed unashamedly, without offering any apologies, even though they had plenty to apologise for. But then, the Labour government has never had the same nerve or audacity as the Nationalist government, and certainly not the know-how to carry off and get away with a cock-up with the same effrontery, ease and nonchalance. This move has not only made Malta look like the hog at the feeding trough and an international laughing stock, but has reminded us all why the PL spent 25 years in Opposition.
Something of this magnitude required a gradual build-up. If you’re going to take on something as controversially complex, politically and internationally loaded as selling citizenship, which is going to have repercussions worldwide, you don’t do it overnight and you definitely don’t go about it like you might be hiding something. Especially if there really is absolutely nothing to hide and you’re supposedly being advised by the best. Perception counts for everything, so if the unsuspecting public’s first impression of the idea looks phony – a fait accompli and a secrecy clause to boot, which has all the makings of a back-door route to harbour criminals, don’t expect a round of applause.
If you’re going to take on something as controversially complex, politically and internationally loaded as selling citizenship, you don’t do it overnight
What is the point of shooting your mouth off and then doing a turn-around which makes it seem like you’re governing with hindsight? Or worse, pandering to the Opposition? You either believe in what you are doing and have the courage of your convictions or you don’t. And if you don’t, then keep your cards close to your chest until you’re sure.
I read an article by a PL apologist, who made the point that if nothing else, the citizenship issue demonstrated that even with a nine-seat majority, the PL are not riding roughshod over the electorate. Had the matter been localised with implications only on the Maltese electorate, they may well have bulldozed ahead. Now that they’ve ticked off Europe and America, they’ve had to rethink the whole thing. Had they governed with foresight, they wouldn’t have needed to eat humble pie.
A serious and well thought out overhaul of this scheme could still work. As it was, thrown at us like a three-for-one discount, there was nothing in it for us. Henley & Partners, their anonymous agents and whoever needs in on the scheme were getting a deal, while we ended up looking foolish, hungry and cheap.
michelaspiteri@gmail.com