A New Way

The Malta Independent on Sunday

A New Way

My friend Winston Zahra blew his top off this week writing in one of the English dailies to express how fed up he is with the current way of doing politics. He` has good reason to be.` As an investor creating wealth and employment and contributing to sustainable productive economic growth,` he expects our political class to add value to society.` Instead quite often our political class is more apt to waste the country`s resources in petty squabbles while leaving unaddressed the real economic problems.

No amount of writing in the press will however bring about the desired change. The change has to come from the democratic choice that the electorate makes when exercising its electoral privileges. Every country gets the government it deserves. And quite frankly the electorate made a bad choice in 1998.

A government has to govern in accordance with its pre-electoral pledges and its manifesto.` This is the basis of its mandate.` As long as it remains loyal to its pre-electoral pledges the government has a right to demand co-operation from the social partners and,` if not constructive criticism, at least non-obstruction from the opposition.

The real reason why we have the sort of politics that Mr Zahra rightly complains about is that we have a government that got elected on a false mandate and is betraying its own manifesto.

I well remember the current Prime Minister, then Leader of the Opposition, denying with a saintly face the existence of any financial problem in government`s fiscal position. I vividly recall the pledge that as soon as the PN gets elected one hundred million liri would start flowing to us effortlessly from Brussels each year by` simply de-freezing the membership application. Don`t we all remember the straight pledge that the burden of taxation would be rendered easier on all of us permitting consumption based economic growth leading to ever higher standard of living`

Now compare this to what is being delivered.` Not only the fiscal problem has become real but the impact of taxation has hit one and all but most of all has broken the cash flow cycle feeding the business sector. Business confidence has plummeted. `Higher` tax impact is lowering general standards of living and deflating demand.` Worse,` it is not even addressing` the underlying fiscal deficit problem.

This inevitably leads to the sort of frustration exposed by Mr Zahra. In these circumstances where government has lost the moral authority of its mandate,` it is in a weak position to demand and get broad based support, if not consensus, for devising real, if not painless,` practical solutions to the country`s economic ills.



`If the government continues to deny that its prescription and economic formulae are not delivering the bacon and keeps re-assuring us that we are on the right track when all evidence shows that we are rushing towards a thick concrete wall, then small wonder that politics do not allow scope for consensus driven serious restructuring solutions.

Which basically means that the new way of doing politics which Mr Zahra and I both aspire for can only emerge following the next general election if the electorate gives a mandate to a government that is truthful about the real state of the economy and realistic in the solution it offers.

Which basically means that we need a full five year dose of Alfred Sant`s 1996 ` 1998 style of governing with two differences. Firstly is acceptance that Labourites are not children of a lesser god and deserve to be treated equally as the rest of them ( nationalists). Secondly that Labour has a right to govern in accordance with its mandate and anybody who wants to play partisan games in spite of the obligation to be faithful to the government`s mandate had better make way for those of us who are prepared to give the country a chance to try a new way of doing politics.

And this will not be too differently from the way Mr Zahra and his likes provide for` solutions to their` business problems.

Firstly there` is problem identification. I think we have had six years of this now and problems are known and acknowledged. Unlike 1996 a new Labour government does not need to waste energies raising awareness.

Then the alternative solutions have to be outlined with their pros and cons and the choice of a practical solution is made in country`s best interest. Following this a very strong communication exercise has to be conducted where the chosen solution is persuasively explained and sold to the broadest cross-section possible of society. The inevitable immediate pain of the solution has to be eased by focusing on the medium term benefits which will continue to be enjoyed recurrently.` Then the identified solution has to be applied with vigour and determination, celebrating small wins as they occur and alleviating pain through social solidarity whilst permitting the economy to grow and stimulating investors to start believing again that sustainable economic structures can be rebuilt and sustained.

When this happens I am confident that the likes of Mr Zahra, whatever their personal political inclinations, will be part of the solution which will rid us of the current poor way of doing politics. I am confident that politics will return to adding value to society which can be at peace with itself whilst fostering diversity of opinion.` That is the new way I aspire for and why I have taken I decision I have long been avoiding.