Tag: #elections2013

Categories
Campaign 2013

A time for lemons

This morning’s Sunday paper sequence had a not too comfy surprise in store for the blue side of this election campaign. As the mass meeting attending acolytes packed their flags and horns for the second of their electoral xalati we read in MaltaToday about yet another scandal exploding in GonziPN’s face. A bloke who goes by the name of Frank Sammut and who has up until now enjoyed the veil of anonimity is at the centre of this scandal. Apparently while sitting on some board that is entrusted with the procurement of oil for our greater benefits (and with the wherewithal to purchase such oil – to the tune of 360 million euros annually), Sammut also allegedly acted as “consultant” to one of the oil companies, pocketing loadsamoney in the process.

Smashing isn’t it? Here we were again with yet another Silvio Zammit sounding story. Maltese “businessmen” who do what they do best when linked with political masters. In this case Sammut is an appointee – a nationalist government appointee. If the “hard proof” that Saviour Balzan is crowing about right now is real then shit has really hit the proverbial fan and I don’t think that the PN machine will pull off another JPO spin to cover up Sammut.

Let’s leave that story and its facts unfold for now. We cannot do much at the moment except take note. I am sure that Monday will bring much more information. Meanwhile we now have an even bigger quandary when it comes to the election and more particularly the energy sector.

On the one hand you have Labour and Konrad Mizzi’s “plans” that look like they leak unpreparedness from whichever point you look. This blog need not apologise when it reaches the conclusion that Mizzi and Labour do not seem to have their act together and are not able to cough up enough guarantees that their plan works.

On the other hand you have PN who can be all smiles and expert when it comes to shooting down Labour’s plans but who are a huge fail when it comes to managing their very own personnel. Most importantly it becomes increasingly harder for the nationalist party to sell their pitch that they operate in the interests of the nation and not in the interests of many groups of many men with an interest in having their part of the pie. And insofar as this particular point is concerned it is of no consolation that should Labour be elected there would still be pie sharing but by different people.

So there you have it. The clueless vs the corrupt. Which brings me to the little party with the big manifesto. It’s a long long read. I still haven’t digested it all and there are quite a few points I definitely disagree with (here’s two: I’m not for any glorification of the president and his powers nor am I for any political party wishing to interfere in how student unions are run) but hey alternattiva have a concrete set of proposals.

The way I see it when it comes to economy and energy AD have concrete ideas. Better still the ideas are based on principles such as taxing progressively, a social conscience and studying solutions based on renewable, clean energy. It’s all there waiting to be put into action or at worst to be copied by the empty vessel parties in five or ten years time. The media will try to minimise AD’s contribution to the usual shocking positions on drugs and LGBT rights.

The truth is that there has never been a moment more than today, more than now, when the role of a third party – possibly as a minor partner in a coalition government – could be crucial to returning any semblance of sanity and direction to our political system. Now, more than ever, should the intelligent beings who do not flock blindly to mass meetings or cheer their leaders at “debates” on Xarabank really be investing their vote in the third party.

Electoral Manifesto (Alternattiva Demokratika)

Categories
Campaign 2013

Your politics are ruining my country (and its future)

“Futur fis-sod” they say, or “Malta taghna lkoll”. Slogans, they’re strong and they’re loud. They get repeated like some mantra gone wrong and woe betide anybody who dare criticise any of their darlings because you are immediately tagged as an undercover agent for “the other side”. Malta’s very own version of McCarthyism has now polluted the airwaves and the ether. We’re only a few days in the campaign and quite frankly the debate between dumb and dumber has only made us numb and number.

I dared praise Ranier Fsadni’s article in the Times only to find my status host to a mass of foam mouthed angry mob stirrers – angry because apparently Ranier has not been equally magnanimous in his criticism of the way things are done. Quite frankly I do not believe that I need to defend Ranier but I rather like the point he made – which remains a good point independently of Ranier. His point was simply that the media should be more demanding of our politicians. The sly fox did not come down in favour of one party or another – he simply put it to the reader that “trust” is not enough in these matters.

Raphael Vassallo plastered line after line of research that he came across in his line of investigation. Which is fine. What I cannot understand is how some of the flaws that people like Raphael point out suddenly become ok because, you know what, even the nationalists have been guilty of committing them. So that’s all right isn’t it? Fast tracking EIA plans? Can be done because MEPA does it already. Oh goody goody.

I don’t know where to start any more. The parties have even got a monopoly on how they roll out their plans and projects. I criticised Labour for being too shallow on Gozo – and praised the PN for having concrete proposals. Apparently Labour’s proposals on Gozo are pleasures yet to come. Who cares if the plan for the elections means that you will only know what Joseph Muscat will do to create jobs on the sister island come the last week of campaigning? Which is a load of bollocks. AD are supposed to roll out their FULL ELECTION PROPOSALS tomorrow. Do we really have to wait for the PLPN to drip their electoral proposals slowly like some form of chinese torture?

And one final thing. There are way too many sudden declarations in favour of this policy or that for my liking. The parties have to make their mind up on that one too. Either their policies are a well thought of step by step process built within a holistic framework or they are just being invented as the campaign unfurls.

Which also leads me to this sudden discovery by other pundits of our greatest sickness. I saw that Daphne Caruana Galizia the other day was complaining about the Maltese mentality that “having an opinion automatically means that it’s right”. Well thank Jupiter that the message that we have been drilling from these columns for aeons is finally coming through. Maltese relativism combined with this dumbing down of the nation is a direct by product of the PLPN vision of politics. Joseph Muscat has put this development on a fast track with his “m’hemmx ilwien u kuluri” , and “il-Malti jahdem u jistinka allura bilfors il-progetti jirnexxu”. It’s a project, it’s Maltese and it will create work because he says so. No questions asked.

This is the Brave New Political world for which various rent-a-pundits and sudden activists are suddenly foaming at the mouth. There are those who will take whatever their party says like it’s the bible truth. Others are just rabidly egging on the team that has to get into power if only because twenty-five years have hurt and you cannot trust the conniggling bastards in blue. The world begins and ends at the feet of Norman Vella and Peppi Azzopardi and the ridiculously sterile BA guidelines. And if the leader bows out of a Xarabank appointment then let’s make a fuss of it… because Xarabank taghna lkoll.

Their politics is ruining the prospects of this country and its future.

Categories
Campaign 2013

Promises and Plans (II) – Gozo

Simon Busuttil penned a good article in yesterday’s Times (Gozo on the parties’ agenda). This article is a clear illustration of the difference I have mentioned between empty promises and concrete proposals. Simon says (tee-hee) that the PN has concrete options for Gozo that can be contrasted to Labour’s vague promises of “increasing jobs and increasing tourism”. The difference lies in the fact that the PN is saying HOW it will bring about jobs. I know because I can list the promises here – so that should be proof enough of their existence:

  • tax breaks of up to  €200,000 over a three-year period to any new business that opens in Gozo employing a minimum of two people.
  • slash administrative fees of all Gozo businesses down to just 10 per cent of their total.
  •  efforts will continue to be made to incentivise cruise liners to berth in Gozo.
  • new measures will be taken to entice some of the more than half a million cruise passengers arriving at Grand Harbour to take a trip to Gozo.
  • to stimulate further investment in five-star hotels and to offer schemes that will help upgrade lower star hotels as well as farmhouses in Gozo.
  • Financial support will also be given to public events, typically opera, carnival and traditional events that can stimulate tourism in the shoulder months.
  • On their return, people spending at least one night in Gozo will pay the same ferry rate as Gozo residents.
  • Gozo will take a further step forwards in its devolution with the establishment of the Gozo Regional Council through an ad hoc law that will also formally establish Gozo as an island region in Malta.
  • a commitment to financing a final study on building a permanent link between Malta and Gozo with the intention of proceeding with the project subject to the outcome of the study.
  • There are other proposals too, such as further investment in road infrastructure, the establishment of a Business Park for crafts businesses and the completion of the Eco-Gozo initiative with a further focus on renewable energy and water catchment projects.
  • Committing 10 per cent of Malta’s share of EU funds to Gozo. This would be the third financial package for Gozo since we joined the EU in 2004. I reckon that, since then, EU funding in Gozo must have topped the €100 million.

I agree with Simon. It’s a mouthful. The proposals are there to be criticised and improved. Labour has not given us anything of this sort other than a show of hands about whether or not people want more work to be created in Gozo. There are some proposals above that need further analysis – how is the PN going to justify the tax breaks under EU law? It is important to read the difference between “to stimulate further investment” and “to invest” – they are not the same thing and the former depends on third parties. The Regional Council is a case of better late than never – it would be  good to see Labour adopting the general idea too (last time round Labour saw fit to even abolish Gozo’s ministry).

The point remains though. Concrete proposals vs managerial hogwash. Will Labour show us the money insofar as Gozo is concerned or are there “commercial interests” that need be protected here too?

Categories
Campaign 2013 Rubriques

Promises and plans (I)

In “the power incumbent” we saw how certain projects are best presented and put into effect once a party is elected to government and not before. The “best” in that sentence is of course referring to the advantage gained by the party in question and does not necessarily reflect any benefit for the electors. That is not to say that parties should be allowed to get away with superficial promises and sweeping statement. A case in point this week has been the declarations by the leaders of both the PN and the PL that (I parapharase here) they would not be averse to the idea that gay couples could adopt. The mainstream media took this to mean that both the PL and the PN have a clear position in favour of gay couples adopting.

They don’t. The only party to outrightly state that it is in favour of legislation for LGBT rights to include marriage, adoption and IVF is alternattiva demokratika. That is a fact. What Lawrence and Joseph stated was simply their personal opinion. We are far from an explicit promise to enact legislation in that sense by either of the PLPN duopoly. Having seen the dramatic protests and opposition to gay marriage in France I can only begin to imagine what would happen in Malta once the parties are finally forced to discuss possible legislation on any of the matters (gay marriage – not union or partnership, adoption by gay couples – on par with adoption by straight couples, and access to IVF for gay couples).

The electoral newspeak is switched on. You’ve been warned and remember – everybody lies.