Pollyanna has been long considered a classic of children’s literature. The title character was a person with a perpetual optimistic outlook. Her philosophy of life centred on what she called “the glad game”, the art and skill of adopting an optimistic attitude to everything in life. Her game consisted of finding something to be glad about in every situation. Not only did she master the game but she had also taught others how to play it.
… the-glass-is-always-half-full approach cannot be stretched beyond snapping point- Leo Brincat
There is nothing wrong in trying to outsmart and outplay Pollyanna, so long as one does not overdo such optimism to the point of resorting to naïvety, deceit or else to twist and pervert the facts of an unfortunate situation. Regretfully, the Prime Minister tends to fall in the latter category, politically speaking.
When the chickens come home to roost, we suddenly realise that the-glass-is-always-half-full approach cannot be stretched beyond snapping point. One can only do so at one’s own peril and at the risk of failing the credibility litmus test.
In the past weeks, there have been far too many instances where the Pollyanna effect lost its glitter and shine.
While the Prime Minister assumed full political responsibility for the Malta Environment and Planning Authority after the 2008 election was won by less than half an electoral quota, we have just found out, courtesy of Eurobarometer, that not only do the overwhelming majority of Maltese respondents surveyed believe that corruption in Malta is a major problem but also that, when asked to say which institutions people deemed to be the most corrupt in recent years, a shocking 60 per cent specifically identified Mepa itself.
Rather than probing the true implications of the Moody’s Malta downgrade as well as the “negative outlook” tagged onto it, we had the Minister of Finance attacking Moody’s for their unjustified rating instead of addressing the core issues that they had singled out.
At a time when the government claims to have been practising the social justice it says it believes in, recent figures show that the percentage of the Maltese poor and those perceived of rapidly moving into a state of poverty has been increasing rapidly.
While other countries and governments have been expressing concern about the true implications of the Acta treaty, we have just found out that the government played the covert game so much to the hilt that it did not even bother to issue a statement to advise the public that it had signed the accord. On the other hand, we now have it from none other than the Minister of Finance that the Data Protection Commissioner was only consulted after Malta signed up to the treaty rather than before doing so.
After months of lambasting one of its own MPs while allowing some to cast doubts on this MP’s state of mental health, the Prime Minister, who seems to have given up all attempts to neutralise him or have him kicked out of Parliament (as some of his coterie would love to see him do), has now changed tack. So much so that last week he even showered him with praise.
It is a pity that, meanwhile, the Prime Minister has not bothered to tackle or address any of the other far more serious, direct and scathing attacks and criticism that the same MP levelled at the Gonzi Administration.
While the Labour Party has been rooting for transparency in party financing since the days of the so- called Galdes Commission, of which I was an active member, the Nationalist Party continues to drag its feet on the issue. It is patently evident that the PN would rather see the status quo prevail, for obvious reasons.
Malta must be one of the few European countries to dismiss lightly Transparency International reports. In other countries, their findings have sometimes led to dismissals and resignations. In Malta, the findings themselves are dismissed arrogantly by the Prime Minister as mere perceptions rather than realities grounded in and based on fact.
I found it equally laughable how the same people who were, until recently, bragging about the prevalent political uncertainty on the island have now evidently changed their tune. This, possibly, as a result of political pressures that have been brought to bear on them.
At one stage, a particular organisation had even claimed that the political uncertainty was impacting so negatively on the island that it had a more direct negative bearing than credit rating agency downgrades. So much so that it had even made the doom-laden prediction that this uncertainty and interlinked instability could actually lead to further downgrades. In the past few days, they seem to have changed their song completely. Even though nothing has happened that could in any way be perceived as having cleared the air.
It is only the independent media that continues claiming that regardless of Lawrence Gonzi’s likely confirmation of his party’s leadership, in the absence of any viable internal solution being found within his own parliamentary group – that could assure him of a stable parliamentary majority – the Prime Minister has no sensible option but to call an election. That is, if he wants to remain consistent with his declaration that his priority is working for the national interest rather than the diktat of his own party and political strategists.
Saturday’s leadership confirmation of Dr Gonzi as PN leader will merely show him up as having continued to play Pollyanna’s role to the hilt at the expense of the country’s economy, stability and well-being.
Brincat.leo@gmail.com
www.leobrincat.com
The author is shadow minister for the environment, sustainable development and climate change.