Now you are felling sorry ? you should have seen it coming. Citizenship sale and developers rule 7 days ago - Sunday, 03 November 2013, 08:54 , by Pamela Hansen My, how some unexpected things are changing fast, while others, where reform was promised, are not. When I think of all the palaver we had to go through with certificates to prove that our grandfathers were Maltese to get a new passport, i.e. renewing our citizenship, I was amazed that soon people will just be able to buy it. Ah, but it is not a sale, “Our pride in our work, our willingness to support charities and volunteer our time in NGOs shows me that for us as a nation, citizenship is not a transaction but a relationship,” said Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, speaking in London promoting The Malta Individual Investor Programme. How pride in our work and our generosity shows the Prime Minister that we, as a nation, shall regard this sale as anything but a transaction is beyond me. As for the title, it is misleading since investment is usually seen as financial input and job creation. Whereas the Prime Minister’s reasoning for this grand sale is “to attract extremely highly talented and networked people from around the world by offering them the possibility of sharing the Maltese and European journey”. Funny the use of the word “journey”. What on earth does that mean? What a hollow statement. Leslie Skipper, a media trainer (formerly a BBC news editor) who is Joseph Muscat’s communications adviser, uses precisely that word to describe what he does on the Web, “a media trainer who takes clients on a journey... ensuring they shine before an audience”. I was surprised the Prime Minister did not add “become Maltese and shine.” Of course people buying their citizenship will not really be Maltese in the true sense of the word. For one thing learning our language is hardly going to be a requirement. “Maltese citizenship was an ongoing exchange between the Maltese and their country, the relationship of building together a nation, making something unique and special,” the Prime Minister continued in his sales pitch. Another completely meaningless bit of rhetoric. Frankly, why would “extremely highly talented and networked people from around the world” want to become Maltese and pay for it? Another Switzerland in the Med attempt? Although that Labour slogan was used to keep us out of the European Union. “This relationship is a collective one. It means being able to rely on each other in difficult times and being there to celebrate the good times together. It means making individual sacrifices for the greater good, and knowing that no matter what happens there is a safety net – Maltese society that will always help you get back on your feet,” the Prime Minister told would-be buyers. Hang on a minute; I thought this was directed at extremely highly talented and networked people from around the world, not at those who will need a hand to get back on their feet. I am afraid all this does not demonstrate any clarity of purpose. It is also worrying that applications will be processed by a foreign company and that the full contract with Henley & Partners, which are promoting the scheme, has not been published. So much for transparency. As for Mepa reform, what a joke. It seems like the government’s right hand is not in synch with the left. On the one hand we have Mepa approving highly controversial very large developments in Mistra with 770 apartments high rise blocks on the ridge and blocks of residences, shops, a supermarket and car park in St Julian’s, as well as new developments on virgin land in Lija, Tal-Mirakli, and Balzan, and on the other we have the Minister of the Environment Leo Brincat and Education Minister Evarist Bartolo stressing the importance of implementing green strategies and telling us that it was in Maltas best interest to become ‘greener’. However, it is pointless for PN partisans to tell people who voted Labour in the last election that they are getting their just desserts when they complain about new government decisions. Voters had no choice at the last election. They knew the PN had to go. It is amazing how quickly some forget the bad decisions, arrogance and lack of transparency made by the previous administration, even while the Public Accounts Committee is currently hearing of the serious maladministration that had gone on at Enemalta and we experience the Arriva fiasco daily. The only other alternative, which I was sorely tempted to do was not vote at all as Russel Brand, whose thinking I like, recently advocated in the UK, when he was guest editor of the New Statesman. “I will never vote and I don’t think you should, either,” he wrote. He derided the political system “as nothing more than a bureaucratic means for furthering the augmentation and advantages of economic elites”. It seems that our predicament is not unique. pamelapacehansen@gmail
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 10:09:33 +0000
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