Even the staunchest Nationalists admit in private that the government has lost its bearings and the country is experiencing a glaring administrative mess. It is no longer a straightforward tussle between two opposing political parties. Day after day we witness lack of agreement and direct confrontation among government appointees to the detriment of sound public administration.

A few days ago, Minister Austin Gatt seriously questioned and threatened the Water Services Corporation, with his friend Michael Falzon resigning for a few days, but only until the two pals would meet to ‘solve’ their differences. As if they had been quarrelling over a piece of furniture in their families’ mansion. The recent resignation of John Camilleri, the ex-personal secretary of President Edward Fenech Adami, is another example of PN infighting. Joe Camilleri did not mince his words and openly criticised the PBS Board for intruding on editorial policy, and accused the Minister of abandoning the same policy he had formulated himself. Mr Camilleri declared that he wanted to see new faces and new programmes in public broadcasting, but his efforts were turned down by the PBS Board. The Board of Directors explained that it was its responsibility to take the final decision.
Government wanted us to swallow the lie that it is healthy to have such contrast of opinion or lack of agreement between the two boards. Production houses think otherwise. How can they plan their marketing, when faced with such uncertainty as to whether their programme would be aired or not? This scenario only gives advantages to those who have a “guarantee” that their slots are there forever.

Perit Carmel Caccopardo, a former Nationalist candidate who criticised MEPA’s decisions, was thrown away as if he had some hidden agenda and a direct conflict of interest. Two weights and two measures. What about the PN’s secretary general, who gloriously chanted the Dubai song ad nauseam and then spent the best days of summer on a luxurious yacht cruising the Mediterranean? Yes, Mr Saliba “is not the government”, but this is only an convenient distinction. Everyone knows that the demarcation line between party and government is very thin, if not inexistent.
Then, the Prime Minister assures us that the compensation given to Minister Ninu Zammit is in tune with compensations given to the ordinary citizen whose property has been forcibly expropriated (or taken in possession for use) for a public purpose. Dear Prime Minister, I beg to differ. I know of cases where property was expropriated by government more than 25 years ago and Joe Citizen has not been compensated by the Lands Department. Different persons have told me that the Department informs them that the funds voted yearly for compensation fall very short of the number of compensation cases that the government has to honour. The ordinary citizen is entitled to a thorough and independent enquiry to establish on what grounds certain individuals are given cash for their lands and others completely ignored with many of them having to have recourse to Courts with many years in the waiting.

The MHRA was correct in depicting the confused way in which infrastructural projects are being handled by government. A few weeks ago I had the occasion to pinpoint the sorry state of Merchants Street in the heart of the City. Now we have been informed that the contractor did not have the necessary material to resume the long-awaited completion of the tiling. Governmental silence all round. Not to mention the farce of the utilities bills which the Ministry for Infrastructure did not want to pay for electricity consumed to operate the Tritons fountain, with Enemalta having no other option but to suspend power. A few days later we were informed that the two governmental bodies had reached an agreement.
These are only a few examples of how public administration has gone berserk. How can our country compete if our house is badly disordered? And adding insult to injury, the PN strategy for the imminent general election would be a scaremongering campaign (like the ones we had in the past) prophesying Doomsday if the Nationalists are not turned to power.
In the 1970s, Professor Peter Serracino Inglott used to tell us students that the sun would still rise in the morning if Mintoff were voted out of power, because everyone is expendable in politics. There is no better truth in a healthy and living democracy. After a 20 year spell of Nationalist government, we can no longer live the lie that the Nationalists are the “chosen” few.
It would be a service to the country to inject new fuel in the democratic machinery sending the message clear that the electorate is supreme, and that John Locke’s theory of a social contract is not inverted to give the government a perpetual lease irrespective of its performance.