Time doesn’t wait for anyone and Election Day is soon upon us. It will be a choice that will determine the way you and your loved ones will be governed over the next five years.
You would not trust your life in the hands of a surgeon who has no experience
Some might say, so what if we take a chance and try someone else this time? But this isn’t the way you would reason when taking important decisions in your life. If your doctor tells you that you need an operation, what would you do? Certainly, you would ask who is the surgeon with the best reputation and the highest success rate.
When faced with such a decision, you would not trust your life in the hands of a surgeon who has no experience. Moreover, you would have less peace of mind if you knew that your inexperienced surgeon was assisted by older and more experienced surgeons who, in the past, made one mistake after another to the detriment of the patients whose lives they were entrusted with.
This is what Joseph Muscat is asking you to do: to take a chance on him because he leads a movement that includes in it those who, during the long years of Socialist rule between 1971 and 1987 and between 1996-1998, not only governed disastrously but also stifled all sense of private initiative and instilled divide within the country.
It is no wonder that Muscat is trying to hide both the old MLP emblem and the redesigned party emblem because he knows that the torċa brings back ugly memories when the hopes and dreams of so many Maltese were destroyed.
The Nationalist Party has always believed that Malta does indeed belong to all of us and, whenever in government, it opened the doors of opportunity to everybody – whatever political affiliation or personal conviction. We see this every day: thousands have benefitted from higher education, many have succeeded in their own businesses and thousands found employment in both the private and public sector. We see this in the peace of mind of all Maltese because the days of capricious decisions that negatively impact one sector after another and our everyday lives are long over.
You may have experienced these difficult times when those surrounding Muscat used to govern. If you are too young to remember or weren’t born yet, ask your parents and grandparents about the despair that riddled our democracy, education, work conditions and our right to live without fear. Your future and that of your loved ones is in your hands. On March 9, choose wisely – February 23.
Lessons learnt
These are some of the experiences that struck me most while carrying out home visits: I visited a woman in Sliema, a nurse who spent many years working and living in Scotland. “I’m speaking both as a nurse and as the wife of a patient in Scotland,” she told me. “I can’t understand why some Maltese complain about health services here. I can assure you Malta’s healthcare is far superior to the UK’s.”
I visited an elderly gentleman who is over 80 years old in Msida. He told me: “I always voted Labour but for the first time I will be voting PN.” When I asked him why, he told me: “I’m doing so well considering the struggles being faced by other pensioners in Europe. Why would I risk all that I have?”
I met a young accountant during home visits in San Ġwann. He graduated four years ago and already employs another four accountants. He does a lot of work for Italian companies investing their money in Malta. He complained that he is finding it difficult to find another two accountants to employ because new graduates are being snapped up by larger firms and betting companies.
Yesterday, I visited a young couple in Pembroke. She told me: “My daughter was in a private nursery school but I wasn’t happy with the service. I am sending her to a government school instead and I am much happier. A beautiful school and impressive service.”
I also visited another couple whose daughter is at Mcast, studying arts and design. She told me how happy she is and her mother told me: “How lucky our children are! In my days, if you didn’t pass your O level exams you had no choice but to start working. Today, there are so many opportunities for those who do not get in to Sixth Form or the University.”
This doesn’t mean everyone I met was positive. I heard about problems but few complaints about work, education or the health services. These sectors are the foundation of our family life. The complaints I heard most about were inefficiency and bureaucracy. Others complained about issues whose values surely do not begin to compare with factors that have been of benefit to all of us. To these, I say: you are possibly right but, please, do look at the bigger picture. The PN scale certainly tips towards the good. Despite certain weaknesses, this is still the party that has continued to guarantee our priorities - February 22.
Home visits continue
No matter how many home-visits you do, there always remain areas that you do not manage to cover. Two districts means about 20,000 families. Since October 2008, I have been carrying out home visits every Thursday and Friday, as long as I was not taken up by official engagements. Initially, people used to tell me: “Why are you here? We’re just recovering from the last election!” Others used to appreciate that I was not only knocking on their doors on the eve of an election.
I believe in home visits because they keep me close to people. It is good to keep in touch with those who visit us in our offices but it is more important to keep in touch with those who would not come to us. In this way, we can understand the realities our families face, realities very difficult to experience from an office chair or in Parliament. I learn from home visits as I am given feedback on what we are delivering and given ideas for new initiatives. Above all, they help me understand our families’ priorities.
I don’t believe in home-visits that only last five minutes. I try to spend time getting to know a family and let them express their concerns. I prefer quality to quantity. This means not being able to visit as many families as I would have hoped, yet, experience has taught me that this is best. Ever since the electoral campaign began, I have primarily been visiting areas that I did not manage to visit over the past five years.
I will do my best to visit as many more families as possible but it would unfortunately be impossible to visit everyone. I would therefore like to apologise to all those families that I have not managed or will not manage to visit before election day. Yet, I promise that they will be given priority as soon as I begin knocking on people’s doors once again after the next election. Yes, whatever happens on March 9, come May I will start knocking on people’s doors once again – February 21.
From Cortona to Valletta
During the first meeting I had with the Restoration Unit officials after being appointed minister responsible for restorations, I expressed my disappointment that Malta still didn’t have an information centre on fortifications.
At that point, Stephen Spiteri promptly stated: “Thank you, Minister, this has long been my wish.” Five years later, this came to fruition in The Fortress Builders centre. I have received many positive comments from those who have visited.
We were only able to build this centre because the necessary funds could be allocated. Thanks to EU membership, we acquired €36 million to implement the largest project on the restoration of fortifications that ever took place in our country and we used €2.3 million to develop this centre.
The works carried out on the fortifications in Valletta, Vittoriosa, Mdina, and the Cittadella created job opportunities for about 800 workers and 50 contractors.
We transformed a dilapidated and abandoned building into a centre of great value. The works carried out by the dedicated staff has already been appreciated and awarded the 2012 Din L-Art Ħelwa Award for Architectural Heritage. Aside from the building itself, what is important is the exhibition it houses. Here you may view models of the fortifications in Malta, patiently built by the staff in our Modelling Unit, and interactively explore the fortifications through digital images.
For the opening of this centre, we are exhibiting five original plans of Valletta that were designed by engineer Francesco Lapparelli. These were brought over from a museum in the Italian city of Cortona, where Lapparelli’s family came from.
When I visited this old city two years ago, I was told that restorations there had slowed down due to the economic crisis in Italy. Yet, our economy remained stable and we were able to sustain a restoration project the likes of which had never been seen before in Malta. The centre that is housing the exhibitions from Cortona is one of 30 restoration projects that took place over the last five years in Valletta alone – February 20.
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The author is Minister for Resources and Rural Affairs.