Thirty three

The Malta Independent on Sunday

Thirty Three

It is thirty three to the day. On this day in 1969 as a very timid youngster I stepped into the real world where one works to earn one`s living. I have not yet stopped working since and would not mind working for another thirty three years.

I well remember joining a rather large group entering the Merchants Street Branch of the then Barclays Bank DCO and being called into the office of Mr Castillo to learn that the customer is always right and that we were expected to earn our salary and not take it as a divine right.

My first mentor at the Bank was Alfred Mallia, the current Chairman of the Malta Stock Exchange. As it happened we have since had many opportunities where we found ourselves on opposite sides but we have never failed to respect each other whilst often disagreeing.

Life is a long stair case gradually passing from one level to the next, each step taking minimal effort, but collectively helping` a person to reach grounds which a few steps back would have been unthinkable.

How could I have ever imagined on that fateful day thirty three ago that twenty eight years down the road I would be the Chairman of the organisation (Mid-Med Bank) successor to my first employer And who could have imagined just a bit over` three years ago as I made my final act as Chairman of the Bank that this very event, which at the time looked shattering and taking my professional life back a few steps,` would open up opportunities where I myself now greet` timid young lads on their first day of employment in my own private organisation`

And how could I have imagined` just three years ago that events would push me to step into politics seeking to take my career to higher levels in order to reach my continually evolving objective`

And as I pause to reflect my thirty three years of professional working life I ask myself what on earth could politics give me that I could not achieve outside it. Having come this far should I not be happy to continue operating at the current level rather than seeking further notches up the stairs leading to who knows where`

Whilst normal commercial logic would find easy affirmative answers to this reflection, sentimental and intuitive contrary reasons for it abound. Obviously there is the pride of never taking no for an answer; that if an objective was not achieved through one method there are other ways how to get at it. Labour government of 1996 `1 998 had an objective to modernise this country. It failed as its life was cut too short and instead this country has slipped into an economic fatigue which is dragging us down to third world status and threatening the economic survival of a wide cross-section of the population.

The objective of turning Malta into a real modern and democratic country is still burning inside and I realised that it is only through politics that one can bring about the real changes to achieve the objective.

I obviously put a lot of personal pride into it as well and have a burning need inside to prove to the new political masters who felt I was politically untrustworthy to run a supposedly non-political organisation such as Mid-Med Bank, that I can take their` punches on the chin and fight back to win and move on to higher grounds.

And politics have the virtue of taking you back to ground zero.` They take you back to your origins and see how people live their everyday lives, their sufferings, their anxieties, their expectations and their needs.` It is good for the soul to see things one is used to take for granted meaning luxuries for families who are experiencing new poverty.

Politicians owe it to these people to bring about positive change in this country. They owe it them, those least that can protect themselves, to change course of this country from the economic disaster it is heading to. To rediscover that things don`t just happen but are made to happen. To relearn that salaries and wages have to be earned and that every lira taken in undeserved social support, every lira taken in unearned wages or wasteful overtime, every lira of tax evaded is being stolen form those most in need in society whom the state is finding difficulty to find the necessary resources to give them proper assistance.

Politicians needs to re-instate the reality that wealth has to be created before it can be distributed, that nothing is free and that our economic independence cannot co-exist with a culture of spending largesse thinking that we can spend ourselves out of any problem.

If the local council election campaign just ended` has thought me something it is that we need a different way of doing politics. That politicians have to be kept responsible to their promises and that people should punish those who do not deliver rather be blinded by those who cover their failings by new additional promises.

Thirty three years have thought me that real success depends on serious hard honest work, accountability and a strong love for and belief in the final objective which need to be consistently kept not only in view but in focus. All the rest is eye-wash which will have to be paid through higher taxes by us or our successors.

Alfred Mifsud

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