When prime Minister Joseph Muscat spoke to trade unionists at a General Workers’ Union conference a few days ago, he posed a question to which the answer was self-evident, except, it seems, to him. After promising – not for the first time – a future-proof economy, he went on to say that the country would not press the pause button on its growth.
He was quoted saying: “There definitely are challenges to our country’s fast growth. But what do you want us to do? We are not going to push the pause button or pull the handbrake on our economy.”
No one expects the government, or the country, for that matter, to press the pause button, much less to apply the brakes.
What is generally expected of the government is that it does things correctly. In other words, that it plans ahead, consults at the appropriate time and not when it is too late, ensures a more equitable distribution of the wealth being generated, and, most important of all, works towards ensuring a balanced economy to avoid shocks in case of a sudden downturn in one or more particular sectors. In this sense, all eyes will be on the Budget this evening.
Malta cannot possibly rely on the sale of passports forever, nor is it wise to keep attracting more tourists. Indeed, despite warnings, it would seem there are no administrative worries over the impact a greater number of visitors would have on the island’s infrastructure, on the required resources to keep public places well maintained and, above all, on the daily lives of the community.
As other resorts are restricting, or thinking to restrict, the number of tourists, in Malta, the tourist authorities keep tapping themselves on the back on ‘record’ inflows. With the foreign segment of the population increasing steadily, overcrowding is already evident. Greater thought would need to be given to this aspect of the problem too.
Rather than pulling up the handbrake, the government would need to think long term. Does Malta really want to become another Dubai? Is it worth sacrificing prime natural sites for development? To give just one example, how wise was it on the part of the government to give out land at Żonqor Point for the building of a university?
The size of the concession may have been reduced in the wake of the huge controversy that erupted over what most termed as an ill-conceived move but the point is the government did not seem to care about ruining a pristine site. The government is fast giving the impression it is making decisions haphazardly, as in the case of the granting of land for a pittance for the building of a monstrosity at St George’s Bay, without giving two hoots about the interests of the people living in the locality.
The way it has mishandled the school transport problem and the issue over the teachers’ warrants is yet another example of an administration that appears dead set on moving ahead without first thinking of the possible side-effects of its actions.
Causing unnecessary friction, and then pleading humility when having to make a U-turn, is not exactly the way an administration ought to govern. So, no, what is needed is not pulling up the handbrake but pressing the cautious, rather than the pause, button.
This is a Times of Malta print editorial