In July 2019, Malta released its Mental Health Strategy for Malta 2020-2030. In the foreword, Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne states that “every facet of our daily life has a bearing on our mental well-being” and that “preserving a good state of mental health therefore involves policies and actions within and beyond the health department”.

The Mental Health Strategy is a robust and admirable step forward for our country and we must acknowledge the hard work of the Ministry for Health in developing it. Nonetheless, I would like to discuss how the mental health of our nation is being negatively affected by overdevelopment and a lack of good governance.

To holistically address the challenge of mental health, we must look to prevention as well as cure in the entirety of our national context. In doing so, we would empower our healthcare workers and policymakers, rather than undermine them.

We must acknowledge that the well-being and quality of life of all of our citizens is often not taken into account economically or politically. This inconsistent approach is leading to tangible human suffering as communities are destroyed through speculation and inconsistent planning. Let us, therefore, consider the entire picture.

The overdevelopment crisis in Malta and Gozo speaks for itself. Resistance to piecemeal projects is often characterised by protest after protest, conducted by a familiar collection of NGOs and activists. Though sometimes the environmental lobby wins a battle or two, the overall trend since independence has seen the country nosedive into a chaotic and decadent disaster.

The overdevelopment crisis in Malta and Gozo speaks for itself- Timothy Alden

Places like Sliema, St Julian’s and Gżira had they been protected and renovated across the years, would today be competitive as World Heritage Sites, had they survived. With mixtures of architecture from across history, Malta’s patrimony was an envy of the world. Today, when we sell the country to foreigners, we paint a picture of the past, not the present, and it is the past that many tourists come to see.

Fortunately, our open air museum of a country boasts such a treasure of heritage that many places still hold a great deal of charm; whether it is Żejtun or Gozo, Siġġiewi or Żebbuġ. Yet even these places are now under a relentless, unforgiving assault. Despite positive changes made to our planning sector by Environment Minister Aaron Farrugia, the overall trend still remains one of obliteration.

How does this all link to mental health? Human beings thrive from a sense of community, connection and belonging. We are social animals. We build that which we wish to leave behind for our children and future generations. Our lives derive meaning from a sense of place and purpose. Our roots have value because they provide us with context for our existence.

Familiar landmarks, monuments and buildings elicit happy memories. Skylines, streets and the architecture that they come with are the flesh and bones of our country. People are increasingly feeling lost and displaced by the wanton obliteration of their way of life. A constant sense of anxiety arises out of a world which is being bulldozed for the profit of a select few who flaunt the rules and regulations of the land.

As the Mental Health Strategy for Malta itself points out, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development predicts that “direct and indirect costs of mental health can amount to over four per cent of GDP”.

There are costs which are both direct and indirect to the degradation of mental health. As overdevelopment is a symptom of poor governance, so too does poor governance lead to a system of first and second class citizens, and a sense of the rules only applying to a few.

After all, how else do developers get their destructive permits, if not via special privileges? If Malta is to take mental health seriously and consider the well-being of pensioners and the quality of life of future generations, then it must repair its political system and find real solutions to the overdevelopment of the country.

A failure to do so is not prioritising the economy for everyone; it is simply passing the burden onto the most vulnerable in our society.

Timothy Alden is acting leader, Democratic Party.

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