Last week saw the presentation by the Labour party of no fewer than 100 projects for the Grand Harbour area spanning the localities around Valletta and the Three Cities. The project follows on the heels of the government’s own blueprint for the regeneration of the port areas. This bonanza of major infrastructural projects is now the showcase for the two parties’ electoral manifestos, guaranteed to ensure a certain level of glitz for the electoral campaign.
Together with these ambitious projects, the stage is set for a battle of personalities: ever since another section of the press quoted a source hinting at the ageing Leader of the Opposition as an electoral consideration that could entice voters over to the younger Lawrence Gonzi, both political parties and the media latched on to the superficiality of the electoral campaign.
With the issue of age, beauty too, public performance and rhetorical style having been given their due attention over the course of the summer right up to the Budgetary face-off between the two party leaders, the electoral battleground has revolved around issues of trust and confidence in both political personalities.
The oft-touted battle of ideas however seems to have not picked up as both the Nationalist and Labour Party reconfigure themselves to the moderate, centrist ground of politics where glitz, trust, and confidence seem to be more important than bringing about change where it is most needed in a country like Malta.
Trust and confidence are qualities important to voters in an election, especially when voters are effectively choosing the party which will take government exclusively in its hands for five years. Choosing which leader is likely to ensure progress for the country also depends on trust and confidence. It was the question asked of Alfred Sant back in 1996 during the Nationalists’ election campaign, and it is still asked of Sant to this day. Equally, in the next election it will be asked of Gonzi, a prime minister whose stewardship so far has had its highs and lows, certainly marked by a lower deficit, the finalisation of Mater Dei, eurozone accession and the Smart City project, but peppered with a great deal of embarrassment emanating straight from his Cabinet and their underlings.
They are after all qualities which both leaders are asking their electorate to consider. Gonzi presents himself as a safe pair of hands, somebody who won’t upset the apple cart as the country moves into the eurozone. Alfred Sant on the other hand, promises a better team of managers, and has described Gonzi as being “not a good manager” and “not delivering”. In the background, both sides passionately debate whether Labour’s 2008 epiphany will cost a mere Lm15 million or well over Lm100 million to the government coffers.
There is no disguising the fact that both parties seem to consider voters as company shareholders electing their next board of directors over who can deliver the greatest profits at lower cost. The so-called battle of ideas in the meantime has waned.
Malta at the end of 2007 is not simply an island-state trying to fend off the international pressures of the rising cost of oil, agricultural inflation, or competition from cheap labour in the EU and the Far East. On a number of crucial issues, there seems to be a lack of normality in the way the two political parties deal with other pressing concerns, sometimes by failing to address them judiciously, or else by ignoring them completely: namely, the state of environment and planning laws, national heritage, fiscal fairness, transparency and meritocracy, property prices and the distorted real estate market, the necessary investment required for research and development, the status of cohabiting and same-sex partners, divorce, bioethical issues, the state of the public broadcaster, immigration – all issues whose vicissitudes have lacked a degree of ‘normality’.
As both parties gently converge to the centre, their moderation on a number of these issues, eager to play to audiences on both sides of the divide, has shown a lack of spine, vision and necessary courage to bring about a real change in Malta, a change which can inspire confidence in Maltese and Gozitans to be proud of their country and the way it is governed.
Beyond the pressing electoral hype, this electorate knows better than to allow itself to be wooed over by 3-D presentations of futuristic projects. When delays and cost overruns seem to be the order of the day on roads projects; when a hospital turns into the most expensive controversy ever to be visited upon the taxpayer; when the mere reconstruction of the Royal Theatre is suspended into oblivion, it is clear that such grand projects are being presented to a sceptic audience. The people will believe once they see concrete action – if politicians can’t deliver on the very issues directly affecting people’s lives at this very moment, how can they demand their trust on mere blueprints?