Just before the election, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi wrote to each and every dockyard worker promising a bright future for the shipyards: every worker could look forward to a secure job with a higher income. The dockyard workers now feel cheated as this promise is proving to be very hollow. The way the PN government is conducting the privatisation process has thrown hundreds of workers and their families in a painful situation of uncertainty and anxiety.
The PN prides itself on putting “the human person at the centre of its politics”. The PN must consider dockyard workers as sub-human as it is not treating them with the respect they deserve as human beings. The Labour Party, the General Workers’ Unions and the leaders of the dockyard workers are not resisting privatisation or objecting to it. What they are rightly insisting on is that the PN government should be more transparent and accountable in the way it is dealing with the future of the shipyards that still provide the livelihood of many workers and their families.
After throwing millions and millions of liri at the shipyards to buy industrial peace and without any serious restructuring and long term vision – except a partisan agenda to break up the shipyards and fragment them with the aim of weakening the General Workers’ Union and the Labour Party – the PN now expects these workers to march meekly to their slaughter.
In the address on the occasion of the opening of the 11th parliament more than three months ago the PN promised: “This will be one government for all the people… we must do away with resentment and division, and work together to achieve the common end of the common good.” Government’s deeds have not matched these nice words.
To enable it to win its flimsy majority the PN made a lot of false promises not only to dockyard workers but also to other sectors of society like hunters and bird trappers, transport operators and couples who were looking forward to benefit from government schemes to buy decent accommodation. Instead of delivering on its promises the PN has been breaking one promise after another.
The PN promised to extend the scheme to encourage people to buy eco friendly domestic appliances. It stopped this scheme. The PN promised that people on public boards would be appointed after a call for applications. These boards are being packed with friends and supporters of the various ministers appointing them.
Before the March elections the PN said that Malta was facing a formidable challenge because of the increases in the price of food and energy. The PN promised that it would form a government capable of solving these problems and overcoming these challenges successfully. The PN has so far done nothing to solve these problems except and allowed prices to rise and rise, higher than what is happening in the rest of the EU.
Families and individuals promised tax cuts before the elections are now being told that because of the difficult global economic situation, tax cuts cannot take place in the coming months. The government smuggled us into the Partnership for Peace without any consultation or electoral mandate.
The PN government should not be allowed to get away with its arrogant and hypocritical way of doing politics. The PN not only cheats many voters before every general election by promising them heaven on earth but also has the self righteousness to believe and expects to be believed that it occupies the high moral ground in Maltese politics.

Tragedies and incompetence
Last Sunday in this column I wrote that the Simshar tragedy, where three fishermen and an 11-year-old boy lost their lives, shows the total lack of coordination and synergy between the Armed Forces of Malta and the Department of Fisheries. This department is equipped with the Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) that tracks every fishing vessel in our territorial waters and transmits the satellite position in terms of latitude and longitude of each vessel which has VMS facilities installed on it.
The fishing boat Simshar had such equipment on board but it did not help to save the fishermen when tragedy struck as the public officer in charge of operating the VMS was abroad on work duties.
A friend of mine who is an IT expert sent me this response: “Just saw your article on the Simshar.  The non-availability/monitoring of the VMS is an absolute scandal and yet another instance of the incompetence of this Government.  The European VMS works via satellite.  Position on the boat is received via GPS satellites and then the vessel identity, position, course and speed are transmitted every hour or two via a communications satellite.  The excuse that the “operator” was away is totally pathetic.  “Moreover all the received data is stored in a file (EU regulations btw!) and can be analysed subsequently. So this was obviously not happening. Also, such systems can be designed/configured to send alerts (email, SMS…) if for whatever reason data stops arriving from a particular vessel. As usual, notwithstanding the bombast about being the world leader in ICTs, we fail in the most elementary tasks.”