Business as Usual

Once the Good Friday break from business as decreed by Mullah Farrugia is over I guess that the thunder and lightning last night proclaimed the reopening of the business season. That’s what we do best in Malta I guess and there’s plenty to learn about when combing the dailies. The only problem seems to be (for a change) that what passes for journalism here is actually provoked reporting – reporting court cases, reporting police investigations, reporting something said in a cosy office interview. Very often the potential hot story behind the story is left bubbling in the background and there is a dearth of journalists who go for the kill to unearth more “dirt”.

What is it that holds journalists back? Lack of motivation? Political allegiance? Laziness? Unprofessionalism? The only times we do get a semblance of “investigative journalism” it is so blatantly evident that there is a hidden agenda and that strings are being pulled behind the scene that it ceases to be so the moment the “sponsored by” scrawl starts to roll…

Meanwhil, back in Malta’s Gotham here are a few stories that would make the nose twitch of any investigative hound worth his salt:

1. The Pakistani Nurse Allegations
So a group of Pakistani nurses, presumably “taking our jobs” (in billboard lingo) at Mater Dei have blown the whistle on a racket linked to their job. It would seem that the company that employs these nurses  is taking a cut out of their salary in order to guarantee their jobs at our spanking new(ish) hospital named after the Mother of God. “The nurses are reportedly meant to hand over €600 from their first pay and 12 instalments of €200 to complete the sum. Following that, the company still expects payment of €85 monthly for the duration of their contract.” (Times) Now isn’t that lovely? I was reminded of another “business practice” of certain companies who are happy enough to cash government cheques earlier than their due date for the people who essentially live off these cheques – so long as a little “commission” was paid. Stories such as these confirm the commonly held belief that business in Malta is not about competition and success but more about having a well-oiled machine – with an emphasis on the oil.

2. Parties ask everyone for donations

Thus spake contractor Nazzareno Vassallo while celebrating his having survived 65 years in the dog-eat-dog world of Maltese building contractors. Were we surprised? No. Of course not. Would we wonder why his “well-known Nationalist sympathies have often worked against him when bidding for a contract.” Well yes. What does that mean exactly? Why does he bother funding both parties if his sympathies can work against him? How can he get away with frankly admitting that contracts ARE awarded on the basis of political considerations? Nazzareno is not the first to have claimed the “I oil both parties” approach. Sandro Chetcuti famously claimed it was important to have a pocket for every party (thank Mercury we only have two that count in the tendering business aye) and Vince “Holier than Thou” Farrugia has swung around the world of parties with better tempo than a grandfather clock’s pendulum.

3. SmartMalta Targets

Somewhere in the Easter readings (found it – Key Smartisland targets missed – Noel Grima, The Malta Independent on Sunday)  I also followed the result of a PQ regarding targets Malta was supposed to have set itself by 2010 with regard to Smart Malta. I hate to go back on this but among targets such as increasing the number of IT graduates there was also this silly target about having an online shopping mall with 500 shops. Yes I’m still talking about Trolleymania.com because no matter how nice the people behind the project may be I abhor the whole idea. It is the equivalent of the government deciding that in order to incentivise people to open shops it will open its own equivalent of The Point or Arcadia – imagine that… a government run shopping centre! Well we are close to having that because the success or failure of Trolleymania.com is not one of a private enterprise but is directly related to government performance. And how do you think will the government incentivise 500 establishments to set up shop in its very own online mall? Free market? Free competition?

4. There’s more where these came from

It’s not just Trolleymania you know. Speaking to people in the street and small businessmen who are faced with a wall of bureaucracy to set up a mobile fruit shop (let alone an online mall) you notice that there is a reason for that wall of bureucracy and permits… it should be for consumer safety and guarantees. Instead, every step of the way, every euro spent by an enterprising gentleman has to be paired with a euro going the way of the oil machine created to milk the system. Dog eats dog does not even begin to explain how it all works. Alfred Sant’s “friends of friends” comes to mind but it’s even worse than that. It’s a very twisted meritocracy where just desserts has nothing to do with being capable, competitive or enterprising. And it sucks.

Smartmalta? The only way you could be smart in Malta is by following the old adage… if you can’t beat them, join them. Or just get the hell out.

5. Almost forgot AirMalta

I almost forgot our beloved national carrier. Here is the Pilot’s Association President Dominic Azzopardi talking to MaltaToday: “Referring to seat ticket pricing, Azzopardi said tickets are “often sold at cost-price, or loss-making prices” to certain preferred buyers. Asked about who might get this ‘preferential treatment’, Azzopardi pointed to well-connected tour operators as one example.” The article makes for some good reading into how another sector of profitability is carved out between networks within networks…

 

Related:

Herrera alleges “rampant nepotism in financial sector” : one wonder if he’ll still be singing the same tune once it’s his party’s turn to milk the cow.