In the last electoral campaign, disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat used to speak on a daily basis about the “financial surplus” when making promises about the country’s economy. One such pledge was to eradicate poverty from Malta. Such a promise may be appealing during political rallies, however, it does not tally with reality.
We need to recognise the fact that poverty is a social phenomenon which cannot be completely removed. A much more realistic target would be to aim to reduce poverty to the lowest levels possible.
In his article ‘Protecting the vulnerable’ (June 11), Social Solidarity Minister Michael Falzon dismissed many of the arguments made in a previous article of mine. While it is true that the material deprivation rate in Malta decreased by 0.3 per cent between 2018 and 2019, on the other hand, the rate of severe material deprivation increased by 0.7 per cent.
In my previous article, at no point did I allege “widespread” poverty as the minister claimed. Rather, I commented on the reality of poverty and its more particular inclination to increase at any moment of emergency or crisis, especially ones of a health and financial nature.
The reduction in material deprevation indicators during the past years are potentially attributable to the fact that more heads of households have taken up work. The minister depicts the improving statistics throughout the years as a standalone result of the change in the administration, by quoting numbers prior to 2013.
Such comparisons are partisan in nature as they exclude important downturning factors which impacted the previous administration, such as the global financial crisis and the subsequent eurozone crisis.
The latest available Eurostat statistics related to poverty evaluate individual member state situations with respect to At-Risk-of-Poverty (ARP) and At-Risk-of-Poverty-Or-social-Exclusion (AROPE) rates and compares performance in these areas between 2008 and 2018.
In a decade, in Malta, the reduction of ARP was of 1.1 per cent, however the ARP after social transfers has actually increased by 1.5 per cent.
Even though the material deprivation indicators have marginally decreased during the past years, the ARP indicators did not similarly improve.
The government’s rhetoric about social justice needs to be thoroughly acted upon- Ivan Bartolo
While factoring into account the increase in employment of heads of households, this implies that the jobs taken up do not provide adequate wages.
While employment is a fundamental contributor in mitigating risk of poverty, low wages (such as those around minimum wage) work in the opposite direction and increase ARP rates. Quality is as important as quantity in the job market and in other sectors of the economy.
These issues I am raising are simply a reality and are not meant to make the situation look worse than it actually is.
They reflect my daily experiences. They come out of my meetings with vulnerable people where I witness the difficulties being faced first hand.
The government’s rhetoric about social justice needs to be thoroughly acted upon. During the past years of the Labour government we have had many cases of corruption and poor examples of good governance. Taxpayers’ money has been wasted instead of being invested back into society to in favour of more social justice.
The many scandals that have engulfed the Labour government are in stark contrast to the bold electoral promises made, such as the one to eradicate poverty. This is the unfortunate darker picture of today’s situation. Where there is corruption it will always be the most vunerable that tend to suffer the most.
Ivan Bartolo is Nationalist spokeperson on social accommodation and fight against poverty.