What is happening to this country? The government has pledged to finance the film Gladiator The Sequel to the tune of €47 million. Most of the money will be allocated to foreign companies and individuals.
Only recently, a film awards festival cost the taxpayer €1.3 million for just one night, €200,000 going to a British guest who participated in the programme; and, by the way, this figure was released only after a laborious process following a request by the media under the Freedom of Information Act, strenuously resisted by the government and its minions.
We were told in parliament, the highest institution of the land, that the chairman of the ailing soon-to-be-closed Air Malta, a government company, was not receiving any remuneration. We now find out, after a series of refusals to divulge the figures, that he is receiving €21,000 a month. Imagine what he would have received had he been receiving some remuneration.
And while more than 2,000 cases of domestic violence are pending before the courts in an ineffective judicial and legal system, the Housing Authority engages the services of more than 60 lawyers, chosen by direct order, most of them on a friend-of-friends basis.
Then there is the mother of all scandals: €400 million down the drain, on a much-publicised health project which never was, branded by the court as irregular at every stage, in its inception, execution and aftermath. So clear were the illegalities relating to this abuse of power regarding public land that the government, a defendant in that case, did not even file an appeal from the judgment – proof that it admits that what it did was not according to law.
Not voting or whining that ‘they are all the same’– a false assertion – will guarantee the status quo
This squandering of public money, when the government’s budget registers a €1.3 billion deficit per year, is mind-boggling. I distinctly remember the controversy which arose when, soon after our accession to the EU, a Nationalist government decided to buy Dar Malta, opposite the Berlaymont building, the seat of the European Commission in Brussels. It cost €21 million to buy the 13-storey building, including refurbishing costs. All hell broke loose.
This was not a subsidy to a one-off event soon to be forgotten. This was a wise capital investment in a city which is the heart of Europe. Those who cried foul then are silent now. The money squandered in today’s extravagant film sponsorships by a Labour government would have allowed us to purchase not one but two Dar Maltas, one on each side of Rue Archimedes in Brussels where the current Malta Permanent Representation to the EU is located.
In July, we experienced the long-drawn and surreal drama of a bereaved mother, a modern-day Mater Dolorosa, asking only for a public inquiry to be held to investigate the tragic death of her only son, a request which was repeatedly, callously and vehemently opposed by all Labour MPs to the extent that they slavishly all voted, 40 of them, against the opposition leader’s resolution for such an inquiry to be held.
Thousands flocked to Valletta in support of Isabelle Bonnici even when, on the very morning of the vigil, the government, in a spectacular U-turn, decided to hold a public inquiry after all. Thank God it went back on its word; the evidence emerging from the public inquiry, whose remit is different from that of a magisterial inquiry, is revealing the lack of monitoring and resources in ensuring safety at the place of work, particularly in places of construction in a country which is witnessing massive construction anywhere and everywhere.
The government, in trying to cling to power in spite of all the scandals and rot surrounding it, will direct its media that “they are all the same, why change?” Each time you hear this mantra remember: this is a government ploy. Before Labour took office, no journalist was murdered, no investments in Panama by politicians ever occurred, no prime minister was forced to resign in disgrace, no squandering of public money for one-off events happened, nor was any government minister prevented from visiting the United States under the Nationalists.
The governance of the country cannot remain as it is. It is time for change. That change can only happen if all forces and individuals who are disgusted by the government’s actions and performance unite in guaranteeing a change in government.
The only plausible solution is for government to go into opposition and vice versa. There is no other alternative. Not voting or whining that “they are all the same”– a false assertion – will guarantee the status quo.
It is time for change. It wholly depends on us.
Tonio BorgTonio Borg is a former European commissioner and deputy prime minister.