This column first appeared in Malta Today

It’s always the new billboards which are the first to give it away. 

No party in government will erect new billboards in prominent, strategic places all over the island unless it wants to push its message. After the Budget, billboards are usually used as propaganda to promote all the new fiscal measures which are to be implemented, just in case the adverts interrupting your YouTube videos and nauseatingly interspersed during Muzika Muzika weren’t enough. 

But now in spring, along with a burst of colourful flowers, new billboards have also sprouted up with the message: “Malta Aqwa” (“a better Malta”). The first time I saw this slogan my mind automatically made the association that it sounded disturbingly similar to Make American Great Again. In fact, it only needed an additional “G” and an “A” to make up the acronym which has become synonymous with the shit show in the States. 

In our case, however, the Labour Government cannot exactly urge us to make Malta great again because that would that imply the previous administration was hopeless – and that doesn’t work when you yourself have been running the country for the last 13 years.  The more I thought about it though, the more I realised that the slogan they decided on is still rather odd: better than what? The current Malta?  Because that seems to suggest that they are admitting that what we have at the moment needs a lot of improvement.  We would all agree to that, of course, but to use it yourself as a political slogan on which you are building what is obviously your next election campaign indicates that whoever came up with it (and approved it) did not really think it through.  Let’s just be grateful they did not hit upon “Malta L-Aqwa” (“Malta, the best”) because that would really have been pushing it. 

There have been other signals in the cat-and-mouse-game of “will he, won’t he announce” which is so characteristic of Maltese elections.  Since in this country we do not have a fixed election date every five years but it can be called by the sitting PM whenever he feels the electoral temperature is just right, the guessing game becomes a favourite topic of daily conversation. “X’tahseb? Ghal meta?”  I’ve even heard it being used as banter between morning radio show presenters, all of whom have tried to guess the date. Now, whether the speculation was deliberately started by the government itself to test the waters of how voters are feeling is anyone’s guess.

What you have to look out for is the flurry of major projects which are suddenly completed and inaugurated, or those which have been announced.  Like the new football stadium earmarked for Marsa, for example, which will seat 5000 and which can also be used for other sports. It will start being built in 2027 (for which read, so vote for us to make sure it starts).  Or the National Tennis Centre in Pembroke which was supposed to have been completed several years ago, but which was officially opened this week with the usual fanfare.  Oh, and “work is also ongoing on the first phase of the Ħal Far track, expected to be completed in the coming months.” 

I predict the same will happen with the Bugibba square project which has been dragging on for over a year now. Every day I read questions from tourists who have their holiday booked in the area asking if it’s ready yet since the completion date keeps changing.  The replies come quick and fast from expats and locals alike: “nope, it’s a war zone, it’s a mess, change your hotel”.  I would not be surprised if it will be ready just in time for a ribbon-cutting ceremony by the PM who (kumbinazzjoni) will be busy on his campaign trail. 

The telltale signs are everywhere especially in areas which were previously neglected. Sliema, a long-forgotten town which has been clamouring for illegal structures to be removed for years, suddenly woke up to Police sticking enforcement notices on illegal ticket booths along the promenade.   Isn’t that a good thing you might ask? Yes, of course it is, and long may this enforcement continue, but you really cannot blame the public for being cynical about the timing.  Suffice to say that the legislation to remove these type of structures came into force last September. Why has it taken 7 months for it to be enforced?

The canvassing by political candidates is another sign which cannot be ignored as house visits commence, and flyers stuff our postboxes only to be thrown away in the recycling bag. 

The swivel of attention on immigrants is another very recognisable “an election is coming” tactic and is always guaranteed to earn applause.  Fully aware that a large chunk of the population is unhappy with an increasing foreign workforce, Identita’ dreamt up a test focusing on Maltese culture and the Maltese language, which will have to be taken in order for a work permit to be renewed.  

“Foreign nationals who come to work in our country have the obligation to adapt to us, and not the other way around. That is why we launched this course, as promised in the Malta Labour Migration Policy; they must also sit for and pass an exam to be considered, based on a number of other conditions, for a two-year permit instead of a one-year permit. In this way, we will have workers who are better trained and more adapted to Maltese society. This is the way forward; this is the path we have designed, implemented, and are now reaping the benefits of,” stated Minister Camilleri.

This was followed by the predictable echoes of “Prosit Ministru”,  even though many seem oblivious to the fact that it is this precise government which has made it possible for so many third country nationals to come and work here in the first place. The Minister’s statement is also baffling to me because everywhere I look, I see foreign nationals who ARE adapting and nowhere am I seeing anyone forcing the Maltese to adapt to them.  But that kind of talk is enough to stir up very misplaced patriotic fervour. 

Like many things it sounds good on paper (even though it’s an extra expense on top of all their other expenses), but when I took the test myself I was puzzled by the random choice of questions which I doubt many of us locals would know the answer to either.  I doubt very much whether knowing how much special family leave is allowed can make you integrate into Maltese society.

The problem with this activity swirling around a possible election is that it is very much management by crisis: what are people pissed off about? Quick, let’s find a stop gap solution to show we are on it!  But the proper long-term leadership of a country should not work that way.  The Labour Government for too long now has been relying on gimmicks and flashy presentations and buzzwords such as Malta Vision 2050 which sound fancy but are about as substantial as pink cotton candy.  

Meanwhile the issues which have been there for several years now, and for which this administration is solely responsible, have been swept under the rug as they try to razzle dazzle us with slogans and inaugurations and million dollar projects which may or may not materialise in our lifetime.