Last week I read with great interest the article by San Lawrenz mayor Noel Formosa entitled ‘Where are our young men?’ He tried to answer a simple question: where has the young Gozitan generation gone?
It is a well-known fact that Gozo in the last years became an elderly people’s home, or better, a place where one can retire. Many young Gozitans with tertiary and higher education find work in Malta and settle there. In the past months I became more aware of how acute the situation was when I started visiting households as part of my electoral bid to become a member of Parliament. When I knock on a door most of the time septuagenarians and octogenarians open the door.
Formosa also suggests that part of the solution is to adjust the school curricula in Gozo and focus more on the tourism, fishing and agricultural industries together with better planning laws.
While I fully embrace his view on these sectors I must add that to bring our young back home we need heavy investment in the financial services sector, which includes the gaming industry. Furthermore, there is an urgent need to connect the islands with a rapid service.
I believe that in the short-term a fast ferry service is indispensable and in the long-term a permanent link is thenatural solution.
Both were promised by the Labour Party in its electoral manifesto but up to now nothing concrete has been done, apart from a mention every now and then.
The infrastructure needed to bring financial services jobs to Gozo includes the installation of a fibre optic cable, which is indispensable especially for the gaming industry. This cable can be partly financed by EU funds, however only the Maltese government can apply for the funding.
The Gozitan students representative organization GUG expressed concern on the matter in a meeting with Labour MEP Alfred Sant who fully agreed that the government should apply for the necessary EU funding to have this much-needed fibre optic cable in place. So here I ask: why is this government still dragging its feet on the matter?
In my opinion there is only one solution to Gozo’s problems and this can be said in two words: self-determination. But what does this term mean?
The right of nations to self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international law binding, as such, on the United Nations as authoritative interpretation of the Charter’s norms.
To bring our young back home we need heavy investment in the financial services sector
It states that nations, based on respect for the principle of equal rights and fair equality of opportunity, have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no interference. In brief, this means the creation of a regional administration for Gozo.
This process should be included in the constitutional reforms that the present government has promised.
It is high time that the decisions that affect the future of Gozo are taken by Gozitans themselves.
The regional administration will have the power to apply for EU funding and decide on crucial matters that affect Gozo and especially our young in a direct way.
It would be a directly-elected body empowered to safeguard first and foremost the interests of Gozitans.
On several occasions I expressed my concern that since March 2013, with the demotion of the Gozo Ministry to local council status, we Gozitans are being ignored in the decision-making process especially those that affect Gozo andits future.
A clear example is the privatisation of the Gozo General Hospital, where all decisions were taken by Konrad Mizzi’s ministry without any consultation with the Gozo Ministry. It is a shame that after 25 years the political responsibility of the Gozo hospital was removed from the portfolio of the Gozo minister.
Another case in point is the future of the family park in the Qortin area of Xagħra. It seems that now the ministry of Leo Brincat has unilaterly decided to change the plans for the area to become a photovoltaic farm instead of family park funded by the EU. I here again ask, was the Gozo Ministry consulted?
It is only by moving the decision-making process nearer to the people that Gozo can move forward. We Gozitans must stop thinking that someone in Malta knows better what’s good for us. After all, regional governance is not new for Gozo. The Gozo Civic Council governed Gozo as a distinct political entity for more than a decade.
It is now the right time with the general elections looming that we Gozitans unite and say to this government that has promised us many things but done nothing or very little: “So far and no further.”
Joseph Attard is a Gozitan Nationalist candidate for the general election.