Friday 17 September 2004

Crisis of Identity

The Malta Independent 

 
This government is suffering a crisis of identity.` It is being torn apart by the need to present itself detached from, and guiltless of, the problems inherited from the Fenech Adami administration.` At the same time it needs to continue peddling the fad that things are getting better and problems will be solved by merely talking about them without .the need to demand sacrifices from the electorate.

Quite obviously it is wrong on both counts. Whilst there is no argument about the political weight of the Prime Minister leading the cabinet, ultimately the executive is the collective responsibility of the whole cabinet. By and large the current is the same cabinet coming down from past PN administrations.

It is therefore surreal and tragic to hear the Prime Minister talking about the need to enforce efficiency as if he has just arrived on the scene. It is equally incredible to see government expressing the need to re-check the whole Mater Dei hospital project to see who is responsible for the cost overruns and delayed implementation.

It is clear that the principles of accountability are not being well-served by the extended tenure of the same government where subsequent administrations composed largely of the same constituents cover-up their own weaknesses till costly mistakes are rendered only of historic value.

The first crisis of identity of the Gonzi government is the need to distance themselves from past mistakes and excesses without disowning themselves and without admitting their direct responsibility for the economic sclerosis that the country has been landed in and is finding it so difficult to extract itself from.

It is obviously easy to expect and demand apologies for excesses and mistakes of Labour administrations of the seventies and eighties. But charity begins at home and if we are to start the apologies profession, it should start in a time descending order. So demands for apologies for political discrimination abuses of past Labour administration should be given weight by offering an unreserved apology for loading us with a debt equivalent to 75% of the GDP whilst still suffering from heavy infrastructure deficiencies.`

The second dimension of the crisis of identity of this government is that whilst the administration is willing to admit problems, though dismally attempting to distance itself from their authorship, it is not doing much about them. Problem identification and acceptance are indispensable first steps to prescribing effective solutions.` On their own, however, they do little other than intensify the economic gloom.

So I fail to see how we are expected to believe that things are getting better purely because the administration has the `courage` to admit problems in areas previously defined as fine and dandy. How we are expected to believe that the economy is growing again healthily when all ground zero indicators show otherwise`

I am inclined to accept the thesis that Maltese politicians are so afraid of driving the necessary change, unavoidably at the expense of their political fortunes (just look at the experience of Chancellor Schroder and his SPD in Germany) that only a crisis will force change upon us, and this at a future point in time when we will be in no position to refuse.` We do not have what it takes to deliver the necessary change to avert the crisis. We are sitting out watching the paint dry, waiting either for an economic miracle (like a sharp improvement in the international economic scenario which could generate substantially increased demand for our exports of goods and services) or for the crisis time-bomb to explode.

Probably the opposition is praying for the crisis to explode under the watch of this government whilst the government is just procrastinating hoping to limp to the end of its term leaving the gale to turn into a hurricane under the watch of the current opposition.

If my reading of the situation is correct than it is truly the case of the country being very badly served by its political class.` If we have come to stage where government cannot implement the necessary change process as it fears political repercussions and if no agreement with the Opposition can be reached for a consensus approach towards solving problems of a national scale, then it is time for the politicians to reconsider their role in society.

When Italy went through a similar experience in the 1990`s the whole political landscape had to be re-drawn and for some time non-political executives like Ciampi, Dini and Prodi had to be called in to execute the unpopular changes that the politicians had no courage or discipline to deliver.

Politics is all about bringing and stimulating positive change. Unless politicians can rediscover their true identity and mission, then they should, in the national interest, make space for solutions that can be offered for some time by professional executives who are free from the pressure of having to be tested for electoral popularity at the next democratic calling.

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