|
In her contribution to a recent parliamentary debate on housing Minister Dolores Cristina made the momentous announcement that her ministry would be making proposals to cabinet on rent law reform by the middle of next year. By Nationalist government standards it must be something akin to the speed of light.
The issue has been around for 60 years or so. Every decade almost to the day the government tinkers with the mess and lets it go for another 10 years. The last time was in 1995. It must be due for some more messing around.
Greens have been pushing for a reform of the rent laws since forever. Our 2003 campaign coincided with the election campaign but produced only the culpable silence of our adversaries. Once the election was over, a Nationalist government acknowledged the support we had gained on the issue by mentioning the matter in the President’s speech inaugurating this parliament. It made a promise of reform.
In the summer of 2003 I accepted an invitation from then Parliamentary Secretary, Dolores Cristina to a private debate on the issue. It was encouraging that the matter had been given attention. It was not the first time that the Greens had succeeded in putting an issue on the government’s agenda. We did not hold back but attended and participated with gusto. Then the matter sank into oblivion once more.
Being invited to such a meeting and being provided with facts and figures which I could not divulge is a dangerous business for someone whose function it is to prod the government into action. Being placed under an obligation of confidentiality could effectively blunt the prod. It certainly causes a lull in the campaign. One must not allow the suspicion of bad faith to dwell too long in one’s mind or no transversal cooperation would ever be possible.
The vacuum after the 2003 consultation persuaded me of the efficacy of the marshmallow effect. One is drawn into confidential discussions that lead nowhere. The momentum one had gained is dissipated and one is obliged to start anew. Dolores Cristina is a superb marshmallow. One is smothered by her slow-moving kindness and gentleness but one is smothered nonetheless. Any vigorous response is made to seem an over-reaction even before it is made. Nothing makes an impact. Everything is simply absorbed and very, very gently bounced back. It is far more efficient than a kick in the teeth.
In mid-October the Green campaign for rent law reform took a new turn with the announcement of our intention to hold Malta’s first ever referendum under the Referenda Act. Unknown to many citizens, a mechanism exists which allows them to oblige parliament to abolish certain laws, not all of them and never to propose new legislation. Ordinary Maltese citizens have not been allowed the right to propose a new rent law regime, only to get rid of the old one. The rent referendum will be the first of its kind.
Minister Cristina knee-jerked at once: she told the country next day that a report was due to be presented to her ministry and that all the king’s horses and all the king’s men had not been asleep all this time. What they dreamt up in their report we still do not know. It is still a state secret.
Speaking in parliament on Tuesday she said that the report would metamorphose into a set of proposals for rent law reform to be presented to Cabinet after a winter of hibernation. The middle of 2005 is the target date. It means end June next year. Just ahead of the summer recess. This time next year a parliamentary question asking what has become of rent law reform will be answered with the excuse that parliament is embroiled in budget debates. It is a marshmallow’s time warp.
In her exchange with the Opposition in parliament Minister Cristina lamented at the Opposition’s silence. She seemed to plead for an answer on whether carrots or sticks should be used to induce landlords to rent their properties. How about convincing them that they have more to gain than to lose by doing so?
There was none of the much vaunted decisiveness of her leader there. She plays the good man to his bad man. She almost made it appear to be the Opposition’s fault that no decision has been taken on anything to do with rent for years and years. Who is in charge of this catatonic dictatorship? Does her Party enjoy a whopping great absolute majority in parliament or not? If the PN does not dare legislate and be damned, the Greens will bring it around to legislate or be damned.
She could not have been including the Greens in her definition of opposition. We have certainly put her out of her misery and doubt about our position on rent law reform. We want it done yesterday. On carrots and sticks we are on record proposing carrots first and sticks only for the recalcitrant. If she wants the details we would be glad to provide them.
With Lm1,000 million worth of controlled rent properties sitting extra commercio or outside the economic life of the country, there should be more carrots around than necessary. If sticks ever become necessary, I would be very much surprised. The government must simply decide, to do something, to get off its hands.
Waiting until Christmas 2005 is not the answer. Landlords have been cheated blind long enough. Tenants have lived in hovels which nobody can afford to repair long enough. Far too many millionaires have had a free ride on the poor for far too long. Too many properties are vacant while we destroy what is left of the countryside. A vast capital, constituting a priceless architectural heritage wastes away unproductively invested while governments ponder their political paralysis.
There is absolutely no excuse for Minister Cristina not to propose an immediate and complete abolition of the infamous inheritance of leases. It could have been done years ago. It should have been done years ago. It could be done tomorrow, not in a year’s time, maybe. It does not have to wait for a wholesale overhaul of the system.
What we have witnessed is a great marshmallow attack. It is an attempt to induce somnolence in the unwary public. The message is that something is being done and that we can all safely go back to sleep. We are being mesmerised into believing that all this talk about a referendum should not be countenanced because the government knows what it is doing and will do something, somehow, eventually. The marshmallow has upped the stakes.
The Green response will be to up them higher still. Our referendum campaign takes off in earnest after the Christmas break. We will ensure that every man, woman and child in the country are aware of the cost of paralysis. We will bring about rent law reform regardless of waffle, delay and procrastination. We demand transparency; a full disclosure of all the relevant facts and figures, a publication of the mysterious report that is so often mentioned in awe.
We are going ahead. Greens and friends need neither the Government’s nor the Opposition’s blessing to bring about a change for the better. Minister Cristina can lead, follow or get out of the way. Sitting in our path as the great marshmallow secret weapon of the dark forces of government inertia could be very dangerous. Marshmallows are best when they are toasted over a roaring fire. Our antiquated rent laws make excellent fuel.
harry.vassallo@alternattiva.org.mt
|
