Money for licences, falling balconies and fake IDs

I’m invariably impressed by how much cash this administration seems to have in its back pockets to throw around.

Hot on the heels of the announcement that €5k per year for five years will be offered to drivers to give up their licence, we now have another initiative which revolves around money. Teens who choose not to get a car driving licence until they turn 21, and ride a scooter instead, could receive a €6,000 cash grant. The money would be doled out at €1,500-per-year. To make this feasible, the age for riding scooters will be lowered to 17.

What else can I say about all this but God Bless! This generosity and extravagance with taxpayers money is truly a sight to behold.

It did not take long for the public to express their opinion. A shower of ice cold water was immediately poured on both ideas as many pointed out the inevitable loopholes such as people giving up their licence but driving a car without one anyway. And if you think that won’t happen you must have just arrived in Malta yesterday.

As for the scooter idea, one person immediately pointed out the obvious to reduce the number of new cars on the road – why not just raise the driving age to 21? There was also a lot of concern about teenagers riding scooters in this country where you’re not even safe from potential injury within the sturdy, metal contraption of your car, let alone riding a scooter which renders you even more vulnerable in the case of an accident.

This is not to say that both initiatives are completely far-fetched. I can see, for example, older drivers willing to hand in their licence if they do not use their car much anyway. Running a car these days can be very prohibitive, especially older models, as the cost of the licence keeps going up. Scooters might also be a good option for teenagers but it absolutely cannot be considered unless our roads are made safer.

While it is a good sign that there is some attempt by the Transport Ministry to resolve the daily traffic nightmare, somehow the measures being announced do not seem to be getting to the root of the problem. Why does everyone want their own private car? All together now: ‘Because our public transport system sucks.’   To be fair, Transport Minister Chris Bonett had also mentioned increasing the use of ferries and introducing a rapid bus transit system but, at the time of writing, the plans for these have not yet been announced.

It’s interesting to note that going about it the other way, i.e. making it more expensive to use your car, such as introducing parking meters or a congestion tax, are rarely mentioned because, like every minister before him, he knows it will make him hugely unpopular. Maybe he just figured that the lure of money is the best way to get people’s attention to tackle this perennial problem once and for all. He’s probably right on the mark; after all we have become so pampered with freebies that the first thought is not, let’s do this for the common good, but, more likely, “so, tell me, what’s in it for me?”   

Balconies keep falling down

Construction workers and innocent bystanders have died; public outcries arise and subside, there has been a lot of political posturing and meaningless rhetoric, followed by promises to change laws and introduce licences and more stringent measures. Yet in one week, no less than three balconies have collapsed, crashing to the ground, and luckily no one was passing by in any of the incidents.

Whether it is because they were next to a construction site, or because abandoned, derelict buildings suddenly give way after being eroded by the elements, the fact remains that we now have to worry every time we walk on the pavement. You are at risk of either breaking your leg because of uneven paving or having a stone slab bash your head in.

It is about time owners are made responsible and liable for ensuring their empty properties are safe and on this I agree with the political party Momentum which wants to implement a tax on a second vacant property. Of course these are not measures which will go down well with everyone, but there comes a time when you have to stop looking at votes, and start doing what is right. Whether that will ever happen in my lifetime is another matter.

18,000 fake ID cards - or “just” 7?

Let me make it clear that even seven fake residence permits being issued by Identita’ is one fake permit too many, and by no means am I trying to brush off the seriousness of this corrupt practice.

However, one has to admit that the difference between seven cards and the alleged 18,000 fake ones in circulation is not only a wild leap, but makes one wonder how the original allegation came up with this far-fetched number. The nation-wide panic this caused cannot be underestimated as people tried to fathom the implications of what this actually means.  The huge discrepancy between what was alleged and what was discovered  also puts the credibility of future allegations into question.

On the other hand, Arnold Cassola from Momentum maintains that while it is true that only seven fake cards were found following the investigation, the problem still runs deep. In a Facebook post he wrote that “… genuine ID cards with false information run into thousands. I myself gave the inquiring magistrate 120 ID cards with false addresses of the employees of the PL donor Joseph Portelli and his partner Dirjanu, Mark Agius. I myself gave the inquiring magistrate 27 ID cards containing false Xewkija addresses of voters, including those of Minister Anton Refalo, his wife and his two children.”

Cassola’s statement highlights the biggest problem with our ID card system; anyone can put down a random address claiming to be living in that residence and no one will be the wiser –

who is actually checking? And when an ID card number is run through the system, surely the same address being used by multiple people should immediately be flagged?

Legally, only six unrelated people can be living at the same address, so there are ways of cross-checking. There needs to be the political will to fix this though, rather than trying to brush the ID card issue under the carpet. We use our ID cards for everything; we cannot afford to risk further fraudulent use of this highly important, crucial document.