On top of the heap

I honestly cannot understand the euphoria that accompanied the conclusions of the Bugeja inquiry on the Egrant claims. Or rather, I can perhaps understand the immense relief with which the Muscat family greeted the conclusions but not the feelings express

Imean: look around you – a Malta that has been turned into one big construction site, with ensuing chaos on practically every street, with a landscape dominated by cranes. Now even the roads are being dug up, simultaneously, in many places.

Many will probably reply this is temporary and once finished the confusion, the dust; all the consequences we associate with construction will be finished. To which I can reply that once this construction will be concluded, another one will begin somewhere else, or else the industry will die.

And I am only referring to construction chaos, and not to so many chaos’ that proliferate. Who would want to be on top of this sorry heap?

After five years, or a legislature and a bit, what looked like solid achievements are now revealing their other side. A sense of euphoria swept the country and people rejoiced at economic growth fuelled by cuts in electricity bills. But now the growth is slowing and problems are re-emerging. If only problems could be solved with the redesign of roundabouts…

The country is filthy and dirty: it has lost its self-respect. Some localities are worse than others are, and while everybody knows about the problem, no one seems able to do anything about it. The government cannot point at one single victory in this regard. On the contrary, problems such as landfills and disposal of rubbish remain with no clear solution found.

The country is without a vision. For a long time, joining the EU was that kind of vision that inspired people. Once that was achieved, no other vision had that kind of potency – for some, it was putting Labour back in government, or Malta as the revolving presidency of the EU but that is not a lasting vision.

The government has become adept at finding ersatz substitutes, such are the regular ratings by the credit agencies but even that is fading. As our sister daily commented this week: “The government has of late been in the habit of issuing selfcongratulatory statements each and every time that credit rating agencies or institutions such as the International Monetary Fund shower the country’s economic growth with praise, at times glossing over the finer print and risk caveats.

“But when Standard and Poor’s this week highlighted the increased reputational and operational risks Malta’s banking sector is facing, and increased its overall risk rating from four to six-out-of-10, there was no such announcement