Like any self-respecting citizen of Malta, I am interested to know where my country is heading in terms of future prospects, financial stability and the ability to maintain a healthy, peaceful backdrop for our families.
One hopes the first 100 days are not a reflection of an entire legislature
Like any parent, my preoccupation extends from the personal to my children’s future and beyond. Indifference plays no part here as we endeavour to ensure that bright, fulfilling prospects await future generations. The recent change in government brought all these fears and anxieties to the fore as we watched the whole political scene unfold.
Any election or change in government is bound to bring with it a sense of instability as people take a step back and wait to see what is around the corner.
The recent change in Administration left people with an even stronger inclination of suspicion as all eyes turned towards a party that found itself in government after a nearly uninterrupted stint of 25 years in Opposition.
After the celebrations died down, the questions in all our minds were pretty much the same whether we voted Labour or Nationalist. What did this mean for our country? How would this Administration cope with being in government? What implications would this change in governance have on the future prospects of our islands?
Anxiety began to set in and, far from taking a break from observing the local political scene, people started sitting up straight to see where our country was heading.
Recent media reports outlined the milestones of the Labour government in the first 100 days in office. The hallmarks of this Administration so far have been to register much needed progress in civil rights, to issue a tender for the building of a new power station, to redeploy staff within the public service discriminately and indiscriminately and to entertain the antics of government ministers, quasi-ministers and parliamentary secretaries struggling to adjust to a level of discipline and responsibility they simply were not prepared for.
One could justify all this by attributing it to teething troubles. As a nation, we surely sympathise with our young Prime Minister and his ever-increasing set of troubles.
And, yet, we all have our own woes and irritations and, human nature being what it is, we have neither the propensity nor the time to dwell on the Cabinet’s internal problems.
We want results and the results we expect are not in the form of glitzy press conferences but tangible outcomes in crucial sectors that guarantee job creation and the promise of prospects in industry. In these 100 days, has anyone heard anything about job creation? Has anyone heard anything about consolidating the tourism sector?
For this summer we are thankfully home and dry but next summer will soon be with us. Are we reassured that all will pan out as in recent years or is the livelihood of those working in this sector threatened by uncertainty?
Has anyone heard anything about attracting foreign investment (excepting, of course, the ludicrous Malta-Gozo bridge proposal) to guarantee job creation and boosting the economy?
I trust, dear reader, that at this stage you are not crying out ‘give them time’ because there really is no time to lose. Precious time in the running of our country has already been lost – time spent on assuaging party faithful that should have been employed to ensure that the country continues flourishing with attractive prospects for our children’s future.
For the sake of our beloved country, I trust that the first 100 days are not a reflection of an entire legislature.
info@carolinegalea.com
Caroline Galea is a member of the PN executive committee.