I was very disappointed last month to witness the government and Opposi­tion, not even one year into the new Parliament, take such extreme positions on the Individual Investor Prog­ramme. The cross-party political consensus, which had existed since the nineties, effectively came to an end and was possibly destroyed irreparably.

To quote the Chamber Com­merce: “…Malta’s reputation can be tarnished by the unprecedent­ed extreme positions taken by both sides in Parliament over a matter of such economic sensiti­vity. The risk has been com­pounded by the dangerous statements made during the debate, which may lead to misinterpretation and taken out context. Uncertainty, of course, is not conducive to investment attractiveness.”

I think the local business community should make it very clear to all concerned that it most definitely doesn’t value this confrontational style of politics especially when this affects busi­ness confidence. The Chamber of Commerce astutely pointed out that “uncertainty is not conducive to investment attractiveness”.

Reading between the lines, I think the Chamber felt that the government needed to reign in a bit its enthusiasm to govern and fine-tune the scheme before going any further, whereas the Opposi­tion needed to be less militant (at least on such issues) and refrain from making dangerous state­ments such as “withdrawing” citizenships once elected back into power.

Let’s face it: A strong and flourishing economy is in everybody’s interest. Stability, continuity and confidence are fundamental to growth, invest­ment and jobs. No political party has the right to undermine all this.

What is the point of having a parliamentary democracy if half the house will work to undermine economic stability, continuity and confidence throughout the five-year parliamentary term?

In fact, in one of my first articles in this same newspaper (entitled ‘A new economy, a new style of politics’ on December 11, 2008), I had argued that perhaps the time had come for us to re-think how we conduct our democratic politics. I argued in favour of ending ideologically-based competition in politics and adopting a more business-like approach. I had gone so far as to say that local politicians could learn from the business world where leaders and managers are not judged according to their ideology but on their leadership style and methods and the results of their management team. I referred to the fact that business leaders and managers are free to pursue whatever and whichever management style or business model they deem fit for the situation or the moment and only be judged on results.

I would like our politicians to agree, at least in principle, on issues regarding business, economic and financial issues and to compete instead on the detail of how best to manage and lead. The emphasis here is on the capabilities of a leadership and its management team rather than on ideology. The language of the argument should be less of “I am right, you are wrong”; and more of “I think I can do it better” or “I have a better team to do the job”. By doing so, we preserve and strengthen stability, continuity and confidence in Malta plc and retain a healthy com­petition for who is to run this brilliant country of ours.

For example: The tax cuts proposed in the Budget are actually a continuation (an inheri­tance) from the previous PN government, which this new government has intentionally opted to keep. Hence, the dividing line is not whether or not income tax cuts should be kept but which party will better manage the country’s assets through, for instance, better cost-efficiencies and sound management practice. With this as a political context, a prospective investor (foreign or local) knows exactly where Malta is heading in the medium term and this stability or continuity fills such business players with the necessary confidence to invest in Malta.

I love business because the emphasis is on results; people are not discriminated against because of their beliefs; leadership and its management team do not by default actively damage or undermine their own company so as to acquire power; and a company is not held prisoner to an ideology and can change its strategy or business model, overnight, if the competitive landscape and market forces necessitate it.

If only our politicians, from both sides, could lead and manage Malta plc more like a business.

Let’s end ideological politics and political militancy and subscribe to a business mentality in which the competition is between leadership and its management team. So maybe one day, it will not make a difference who is in power since it will be ‘just business as usual’ irrespective of who is in power.

www.fenci.eu

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