Common ground on poverty
There have been a spate of speeches in Parliament which have gone largely unnoticed maybe because they do not add to the main partisan polemic of the moment but which come from both sides, from second line MPs, from mainly hard-working MPs who go round families and struggle to get and retain votes.
And from both sides of the House, they speak of the hardship many people face in their ordinary life.
In Parliament on Monday, for instance, Labour MP Silvio Parnis made a very emotional speech, a very daring speech in which he says he is aware that with speeches like this one he could lose his seat but that he will speak out because people are suffering mostly because they cannot keep up with ordinary expenses. A few days earlier, PN MP Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, who like Mr Parnis comes from an area of great needs, spoke in the same vein.
Other MPs have echoed this: Tony Abela (PN) said for instance there are people who by the 20th of a month have run out of their money and until the next payment comes in, they just survive sometimes not even going out of their
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There is thus convergence between MPs from both sides of the House about a level of poverty that is real and that exists around the various constituencies, which they come face to face with when they go round homes.
And all this when the government propaganda blasts day in, day out we have unequalled economic growth. One is not disputing this but surely the economic growth has not filtered down to the rest of the population and there are patches of our country that have not been touched by this growth. One may even argue that life has become even harder for them notwithstanding the (small) increases given by the government in the latest Budget. One would require a more profound study on the level of poverty and deprivation in our people and then what policies are needed to offer effective action. It is very easy here for politicians to choose short cuts and dramatic gestures that end up helping and then again not helping the poor at all.
On a general level, it is a fact that our people are far too much dependent on social security. You find people who prefer not to go and work, who opt out of registering for work so as not to be hassled by the department, who simply disappear from any list. That maybe accounts for the very low level of participation in the work cohort.
It is true that there has been a considerable increase in the participation of women in the workforce, thanks to the availability of childcare but overall the rate of participation by men and women of a certain age is still unacceptable.
Then there is no better way to overcome poverty than by an educational process that eventually lifts their children out of the poverty trap. Much has been done but much more needs to be done. Children coming from impoverished families, such as described by the MPs at the beginning of this leader, begin their day at school completely demotivated. And when they return home after the end of the school day they mostly do not find the right atmosphere that is conducive to further study. It is no less than a miracle when the few escape from this poverty trap and make their way up in society.