Of pro-active collaboration

Any well organised administration has to have on its daily agenda full co-operation and collaboration between the different departments or sections. Without collaboration the administration will falter. It is only when co-operation, and collaboration are pro-active that the administration can prosper.

In any activity, if we have to work or play as a team, exclusive individualism will only disrupt the game. It will undo the work or bring it to an unsuccessful conclusion. Every member of the 'team' will have to forget the glory or applause for his special individual effort. He must share with his team mates the move forward to feel the pleasure that the game is coming to a successful conclusion.

If a member of a team, however key his position may be, fails in his bid and duty to act exclusively as a team, the result may not be as successful as the individual planned. If, for argument's sake, the singular effort succeeds, it may not necessarily be that it will succeed every time.

The worst scenario in the context being considered is that it is a disjointed effort. If we only think of the motto of the Three Musketeers - "all for one and one for all" - we will not go far wrong. Take the other example, when one is asked to break a box of matches taken together - the effort will surely fail but taken one by one nothing could be easier to solve the riddle. But even here the call was to break the box full of matches collectively, and not singly.

Tourism industry's complaints

Take departments or ministries. The tourist industry has complained of a serious problem, quite apart from the greater evil that the infrastructure is nowhere near where it should be. The more mundane complaint, which does not entail a herculean effort, is the lack of cleanliness of the area surrounding Paceville as a result of faulty or negligent actions by individuals or groups. If this problem is tackled seriously it can reach the desired goal. But if neglected by one in a link or network the whole process is bound to collapse.

It has been thought that the litter problem can be solved if stiffer fines are considered. And yet even here the exclusive solutions referred to are not good enough; unless they are backed by pro-active collaboration the suggestion will not work at all.

In the words of Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech, it entails conversing and planning with his ministerial colleagues dealing with resources and infrastructure, environment, transport and communications, as well as culture and the arts to make joint efforts for tourism, which represents a quarter of the economy and a third of all employment.

It is suggested that the Minister of Education be brought in as well. Moreover he is to work in conjunction with the Minister of Communications. The most obvious need of bringing schools in the process is that there is a lot of litter on the very doorstep and periphery of the schools. Caretakers must be made to realise that the traditional Maltese way of having a spotlessly clean inside and let the devil take the outside is unacceptable.

This is simply not done. It provides a very bad impression. No amount of lecturing will persuade the pupils to do the right thing once they have to walk over the litter just as they cross the thresholds of their schools.

The Minister of Communications comes into the picture because he can 'persuade' programme compilers and presenters to broadcast slogans over radio and TV so many times a day, to keep Malta and Gozo clean. This is for the welfare of the local population as well as to provide a clean visual welcome to our visitors.

Lack of collaboration

A clear sign of lack of collaboration is evident from the fact that the union has been assured by the Health Division that the security rooms in St Luke's Hospital would undergo the necessary changes. The GWU said it was certain that the necessary measures have been taken by the Director-General and the Health Division but that everything had come to a halt on the part of the hospital authorities.

No other comments in this context are necessary.

The following comment by the Minister of Tourism vindicates what this column has been repeating time and again: "I endorse the recommendation that it is high time that wardens do not only see to traffic-related offences but concentrate as well on matters that affect the environment directly, in particular their attention to prevent littering is a must."

It is alright to insist on the polluter pays principle and stronger enforcement. The administrative enforcement unit has to enforce abuses of littering more pro-actively. Normally those who litter do so in broad daylight. It should not be so difficult a task to detect the polluter either in the act or through circumstantial evidence. The Magistrates' Court in turn must not continue to issue suspended sentences to relapsers.

The fact that young men and women may look at a waiter's job as degrading may be obviated by a cultural change as had been done with regard to the chef's job. This has been labelled as being on the agenda of the Institute of Tourism Studies. Still, a more direct way is suggested. Restaurateurs should not be allowed to employ waiters unless they have been certified by the ITS as having undergone their relative course.

At the end of the day it is all a question of the ministers and departmental heads deciding in all earnest and honesty that the only solution to have these clean and welcoming to visitors and lovely to live in for the locals is by proactive co-operation with collaboration as a regular and conscientious feedback.