Vision 2015: What Malta, Kentucky, and Nebraska all have in common
American firm Angelou Economics is at the heart of Vision 2015 marketing plans in other American cities as well as Malta. So is Lawrence Gonzi’s future of ‘excellence’ an achievable benchmark, or the rebranding of an unsure future?
Matthew Vella Even with Lawrence Gonzi’s sincere wish to turn Malta into a ‘centre of excellence’ by 2015, the vast majority of the population appears not to have latched on to the prime minister’s futuristic vision. MaltaToday’s survey reveals 89% of its respondents have no idea what Vision 2015 is exactly. But does it really matter in a political culture that votes on bread and butter issues?
Probably not: Vision 2015 will have no bearing on the electorate’s decisions. But if this survey is anything to go by, it marks the failure by the government to translate its agenda into something tangible.
After all, Vision 2015 is a branding vehicle devised by an American firm of business marketers. Angelou Economics, the consultants employed by the government to map out Vision 2015 (for €128,000), has already ‘sold’ the same idea to various American cities.
Northern Kentucky has its own Vision 2015, a “community planning effort” to develop a strategic plan for Northern Kentucky’s future. Kentucky has “six critical areas the region must successfully address to ensure its economic competitiveness and prosperity”: economic competitiveness, educational excellence, effective governance, liveable communities, urban renaissance, and regional stewardship. Angelou Economics prepared the studies for the project.
Cincinnati latched on to Northern Kentucky’s plan with its ‘GO Cinncinnati’ plan. Angelou Economics also devised this marketing programmes. Cincinnati business chamber president Ellen Van der Horst has been wary of calling it a vision, cautioning how “some people’s eyes glaze over” when they hear such terms. “It’s more of a way to knit it all together, an über agenda.”
In Lincoln, Nebraska, Angelou Economics prepared a regional analysis for the city’s ‘2015 Vision’ to “reinvigorate Lincoln for the benefit of current and future citizens” in the form of a “call by the private sector to implement many existing plans that have received extensive public input.”
So far, Vision 2015 seems to be only about marketing. The Office of the Prime Minister says the Texan firm had “no role” when the Vision was devised originally a few years back during the previous legislature. “It has been brought on board now to assist government with the updating of this Vision.”
The problem with Vision 2015 is that it is hard to imagine, touch or feel. If this is ‘Project Gonzi’, what does it say about the prime minister?
It can hardly be equated to Eddie Fenech Adami’s crusade for European Union accession which crowned him ‘Missier Malta Ewropea’. Back then, EU accession represented a quantum leap into modernity and global politics. The air of finality that the referendum vote brought made 2003 seem a historical endgame: Malta was waving goodbye to 50 years of post-war development, and now calling the shots with the rest of Europe.
Gonzi’s vision on the other hand suffers from vagueness, mainly because it is the repackaged 2008 electoral manifesto. In financial services the aim is to make this sector generate 25% of total GDP; tourism is linked to the Grand Harbour projects (also to be finalised by 2015); manufacturing will be boosted by more industrial zones; in health, Mater Dei and Malta’s private hospitals (not entirely in good shape at present), “will serve as the basis” for healthcare tourism; education advancement has been linked to “our comparative advantage in maritime studies”.
The only visible tangibles, by no means unimportant, are Smart City and Gozo’s eco-island strategy, which will prioritise the environment, agri-tourism, and sustainable development. Which is why the government’s Smart Island campaign (which reached its height in the run-up to the 2008 election) seems to have more punch.
To claim that in five years, Malta will reach a stage in its development that will be marked by its ‘excellence’ sounds like overreaching oneself. Already the global recession risks sending this mission haywire. Are we, in 2015, expected to have reached a stage of futuristic accomplishment that would have fulfilled this country’s destiny?
The sceptics will snigger at such vague, eschatological goals. Pippo Psaila claimed he contested the PN ticket in 2008 after reading the 2015 vision document: “I firmly agreed with the principles enshrined in this vision.” Labour education shadow minister Evarist Bartolo prefers to remind people that in 2015 Malta’s energy needs will run up to 531 megawatts and the shortfall might leave us in the dark.
In this yin-yang way of viewing the future of Malta, Vision 2015 stands to turn into just rhetorical bunkum. If 89% claim they do not know what it is, it is a plan that is set to be forgotten no matter what benchmarks are achieved.
Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below. Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.
Search:
MALTATODAY
BUSINESSTODAY
Download MaltaToday Sunday issue front page in pdf file format
