Let`s Change

Maltastar

Let`s Change

Each new day unfolds events which make it ever more obvious that this country must change otherwise we will just disappear from the economic face of the earth.

Which country with any self-respect would allow to pass as if nothing has happened a solemn unfulfilled pledge by the Minister of Finance in the budget speech just 6 weeks before year-end that privatizations netting Lm47 million were all wrapped up and sealed to be delivered by the year-end. Normal self-respecting countries would expect the Minister of Finance to stand up in Parliament and explain why what was so close to conclusion 6 weeks before the year end is in limbo even six weeks after.

Let's make it clear. I am not critising the fact that privatisations were not concluded. These are delicate negotiations which need time and skill to conclude to ensure that, apart from the strategic implications, we do at least get the best deal for the assets being privatised.

What I am criticising is the arrogance with which suggestions from well intenders like yours truly that the economic environment after 11th September 2001 had turned so bleak that privatisations should be postponed to negotiate the best terms in the background of upbeat economic scenario, were brushed aside` rudely by the Minister of Finance. He, as usual, solemnly professed he knows it all, need no word of advice and has the best obtainable terms wrapped up and ready for delivery irrespective of the grimness of the new economic realities brought about by Bin Laden, especially in the travel industry.

Then last week out of the blue the partial privatisation of the postal monopoly provider was announced as a major step forward when in fact it is the work of amateurs who have no idea of how to handle a rather complex business transaction. Frankly I think that the Ministry of Finance allowed this privatisation to be handled outside the terms of the Privatisation Unit only to create a match for the Mid-Med sale scandal and thus deviate some attention away from the Minister of Finance colossal fiasco which is fast approaching its third anniversary.

Just think it over calmly. The postal service was always in the hands of Maltese nationals. With a country of our size,` running an efficient postal service should not be terribly demanding.

When I created Maltapost as Chairman of Mid-Med Bank that held 45% of its original equity I had clear ideas of where we wanted to go.` We had to central the core postal sorting operation to avoid double sorting in the centre and in the branches. We had to convert the branch network into a distinctive retail network extending the service offered from pure postal products to financial and e-communication services.` `We even had to offer clients different marketing channels to send very focused mail-shots to prospective clients for their products and services.

And all this had to be done through re-organisation to ensure that postal collection starts late in the afternoon/early evening with the post being sorted overnight ready for delivery at the start of the next business day and permitting a second premium same day delivery for item posted before 12 noon in certain business areas.

Clearly foreign expertise was needed to make the changes in an orderly and cost-effective manner.` This was sought and the German Postal service were chosen as apart from charging reasonable fees for their technical inputs while agreeing to very specific deliverables,` they immediately brought value through a very lucrative international distribution of Malta' philately products which left a sizeable amount of profit sharing and procured totally for free all postage stamp printing.

The intention was to get Maltapost well on the road to profitability through efficiency and quality service and eventually to privatise a good minority holding of Maltapost leaving effective control in the hands of the public sector.

This ensured the best of both worlds. It guarantees private sector efficiency while retaining ultimate control of a natural monopoly in the hands of the public sector.

Just see what we are loaded with through the stupid agreements reached with the NZ postal services. With a minority holding obtained for a mere Lm490,000 and some highly inflatedly priced technical services, the Kiwis` have secured for themselves` full control of the monopoly. As government privatises its remaining 65% in a fractionalised manner, the NZ minority holders will effectively guarantee for themselves total effective control of the company assuring the annual charges in their favour at the expense of the Maltese consumer, of highly lucrative technical fees for posterity.

This is the work of amateurs pretending they can take on some of the best blood suckers around.

Alfred Mifsud