Business and government

When you go into Portomaso you enter into a much different world than the one you have just passed through in order to get there.

In Portomaso the roads are well made, the area tidy, the gardens well laid out and blooming, the buildings smart and clean, lampposts and road signs are upright, waste bins are emptied and cleaned regularly and any works being carried out are well supervised.

Why is there such a difference in the overall ambience? Why is it so different to the public areas outside?

There are two main reasons.

First, Portomaso is private enterprise and efficient, and the outside is government controlled and mostly inefficient.

Secondly, to be fair to the government, the residents of Portomaso pay a maintenance charge in order to keep their surroundings to a high standard.

There are private security men always present to stop vandals. There are gardeners always arranging gardens. There are maids always cleaning. All this costs money but the work is done and it is done well and efficiently.

The average Maltese however also pays a high bill in taxation and doesn't want to spend any more money to keep Malta to a very good standard. And, in many cases, why should they?

The police are there to stop vandals. There are gardeners all over Malta that can do a good job, mostly working for the government. There are cleaning organisations cleaning Malta every day. Why, then, is there such a difference in standards in both environments?

The answer is very simple. Organisation, management and the will to do a good job. One has it and the other hasn't.

The other question that one wants to immediately ask is why successive governments have not been able to do the work needed as efficiently as private enterprise could?

The answer to this is also simple. Governments are comprised of people who in the majority have absolutely no experience in business and the need to keep a successful business healthy. (And Malta can be treated exactly like a business.) Most of them have vast experience in law, medicine and politics but in the world of hard, efficient and competitive business, they are mostly out of their depth.

Again to be fair to the government, they can't possibly be experts at everything and so they must ask for advice, but if and when they do ask businessmen for their advice this is more often than not disregarded for political reasons.

What is the solution? And there always is a solution to any problem if the will is there.

The answer lies in a complete rethink regarding the association and cooperation between business and the government, in order to allow the huge business experience of the Maltese to come to the forefront and really help the country move forward.

There are many fine Maltese and Gozitan businessmen who have done very well for themselves in good times and bad. These men are first class and their knowledge and advice should be sought out and utilised, no matter if some of the advice may lose potential votes.

At present Malta is in dire need of good business advice.

There is also a great need in Malta for first class management training. Can the Maltese learn to be good managers? Of course they can. The Maltese have proved beyond any doubt that they can learn to do anything well. Are they however being trained professionally to be good managers? I do not think so.

There is no better investment than education and not just education for our children. We all need education in one form or another.

There is the Maltese Institute of Management but although they are doing valiant work they can only do so much.

What is badly needed is for the authorities to realise that this vital need for good managers exists, act immediately and organise compulsory professional courses for all senior civil servants and others directly and indirectly in their employ.

Good, well-trained managers would never allow work to be carried out badly. Would never allow workers to under achieve. Would never allow a job, whether physical or otherwise, to be seen by the general public as substandard.

Why are we not creating these managers as it is such an important and logical thing to do?

Good, close, practical and even physical cooperation between the business community and the government as well as good, programmed management training to all government senior civil servants and members of government associated bodies are a must. Together, this would create a very sound basis for a successful future business plan for our islands. In turn, this plan would be managed well and this is the least that Malta expects.