In the 1990s, privatisation was all the rage. The country’s infrastructure needed an overhaul and a cash injection bigger than what the State could afford at the time in order to boost economic growth and modernisation.

The private sector was looked upon as the more dynamic and efficient counterpart that could propel the country towards the future.

Over the years the private sector contributed significantly towards economic growth and the country’s modernisation. It generated employment and, through taxation, helped to fund the maintenance of a healthy social welfare apparatus run by the State.

However, despite the impact and the successes of private enterprise, the enthusiasm of the 1990s gradually wore off. It wasn’t just a Maltese phenomenon.

Internationally, financial crashes like the one in 2007 and the growing disparities in wealth generation and distribution caused many to become sceptical. Many countries that privatised essential services eventually had to renationalise them after the private sector failed dismally to provide an affordable, well-maintained service.

Particularly in sectors such as transportation and service utilities, privatisation often proved to be a flop. Failure manifested itself mostly in times of crisis, when, instead of responding adequately to emergencies, private operators either remained inert or else put additional burdens on their customers rather than alleviating them.

Just last year, in Texas, because of extreme cold weather and blizzards during which State-wide power cuts were experienced, customers saw their bills hiked up by as much as 1,000 per cent in certain areas, depending on their private supplier.

In Malta, too we learnt that the private sector is not always efficient; that liberalisation and competition don’t necessarily mean a better service or a cheaper one. Take the example of mobile telephony. Or take the banks: as their profit margins go up, they introduce new administrative fees to the detriment of the increasingly ‘undesirable small clients’, reduce client contact and their customer support leaves much to be desired.

That competition does not translate into customer-friendly prices is preeminently evident in the construction industry, as it is in motoring and insurance.

In the end, what we have learnt is that the market, when left to regulate itself, regulates in the interest of profit and not of the customer. And the more essential, or the more demand there is for a particular service, it always works better in the interest of capital over that of the customer.

In the meantime, the shifting of balance towards the private sector in the economy also left its mark on the State. There were instances where the State tried to emulate the private sector, forgetting that the logic of private interest, driven by the need to make profit, is not the logic of the State.

For the State, the driving logic should be based on the notion of ‘the public good’, meaning that the well-being of citizens and the just distribution of wealth to guarantee social stability and justice come as a priority over balancing the books.

In the end, what we have learnt is that the market, when left to regulate itself, regulates in the interest of profit and not of the customer- Aleks Farrugia

Not that the State should ditch fiscal responsibility but prudent governance should first and foremost serve the purposes of sustaining those services essential to guarantee the social well-being of its citizenry.

On the other hand, the State also learnt positive lessons from the private sector which it put to good use. For example, today, the public service has its own charter of customer rights to ensure quality customer service and, in many instances, the service is superior to that provided by private companies, for example, in the wide range of e-services that it offers.

Above all, there are more checks and balances to keep the public service accountable than there will ever be on the private sector.

Having said that, it doesn’t mean that there are no shortcomings in the operations of the State. Some of them weigh heavily on the citizens’ well-being.

However, selling the idea that handing over those operations to the private sector will solve those shortcomings is like going back to the 1990s optimism and its underlying ideology of the private sector’s inherent efficiency and dynamism. It’s as if, since then, history hasn’t proved otherwise.

When, following the power cuts suffered in past weeks, the opposition comes up with the idea of handing over the distribution of electricity to the private sector, it’s doing exactly that.

Apart from the fact that the message sent out there sounds more like: “Ah, we don’t have a clue about what’s to be done, so we’d rather hand it over to someone else to deal with it.” Not a very reassuring message coming from those who aspire to be in the governing seat of this country.

Those who want to run the State first of all need to have faith in its ability to address the continuous challenges to guarantee the best deal for all citizens. And it is the right of those citizens, especially of those who rightfully pay their taxes, to demand that the State provides them with those services that ensure their well-being and that those services be provided with the desired efficiency and the expected quality.

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Two weeks ago, I wrote about the Jean Paul Sofia case and the duties of the State. Today, I must write about the public apology made by the prime minister.

It is not a common occurrence that a politician comes down from the pedestal to make an apology. It is even more commendable that the prime minister chose to put his face to it rather than hide behind some carefully doctored press release.

Every healing process needs to take its time. The publishing of the magistrate’s inquiry and the prime minister’s emotional apology will hasten that process, as will the course of justice to establish the responsibilities of those who caused the death of Sofia.

Of course, no amount of healing will ever erase the scars that this tragedy will leave on our society. It will remain to our national psyche a tragic parable of how greed and lawlessness brought down the edifice of decency in our country.