The 'most transparent government ever' joke

The parliamentary debate last week, following a request by the Nationalist Opposition, about the privatisation of Enemalta’s assets, was yet another missed opportunity. What a pity indeed!

Enemalta is one of our major assets, and irrespective of whether it should have been privatised (in contravention to Labour’s electoral manifest), its privatisation is a public matter given that it is a public entity. The Opposition has every right to question and request the publication of the two agreements detailing the power purchase agreement with Electrogas (tasked with building the unnecessary power turbine), and another with the now Chinese-owned BWSC – which used to be dubbed as a ‘cancer factory’, but somehow ‘cancer factory’ is no longer mentioned! Yes, that is the extent to which the Labour Party is willing to go to instill fear to win votes. 

But back to the transparency joke: an agreement selling 30% of Enemalta and another one selling 70% of the BWSC to the Chinese are still secret documents. This means that the highest institution in Malta, the Parliament, is being kept in the dark on the conditions our country has entered into through our government and in our name. This is supposed to be the most transparent government in history. What a joke! All we were presented with was a meagre 15-page document, which although missing the most essential conditions, revealed the existence of subsidiary agreements that in truth contained everything.  

Prime Minister Muscat hoped to build a government that is the most transparent in political history. His undistinguished sense of humility urged the need to make such a statement! According to him, we never had a government, not even one, which was more transparent. 

Comparisons are odious, but in Labour’s world of superlatives, comparisons ought to be used at least to uncover this element of untruth. It only takes one case to prove that Muscat’s claim to have the most transparent government of all times is, in fact, a hoax. 

During the previous Nationalist administration, Labour MP Charles Mangion had requested a copy of the agreement entered into for the building of the then new BWSC power station. Guess what? Former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi had tabled the 2,000-page agreement, sans a few elements that were withheld by the contractor, but which Parliament and the public were informed about.

In all truth, the previous PN administration showed more willingness and acted in better faith, at least where transparency matters. This Labour government tries to portray itself as one with the best Cabinet in history, one which will render Malta the best of all EU Member States, and until recently, the most transparent. Labour is none of the three, and certainly nowhere near.

The cheapest-fuel-prices “promise”

Being the best of all EU Member States does not translate into having one of the most expensive petrol and diesel prices, at a time when the international prices of oil are reaching record lows. And we are supposed to stand up and clap in exaltation as the Prime Minister and his Energy colleague delivered their address to the nation to inform all and sundry that petrol will decrease by 2 cents. Are we supposed to be happy that we have the price of petrol and diesel fixed at a high price? Muscat should admit that his fuel pricing failed, and did so miserably. 

This week’s edition of international magazine Time states on its front cover: FUEL – How low can it go? Fuel prices are at an almost record low, and yet we keep on paying one of the highest prices amongst the EU Member States. Labour’s cheapest-fuel-prices promise has failed, and its strategy to have the cheapest prices has backfired, at a time when we should be paying cheaper prices for petrol and diesel per litre. We are in fact paying the highest prices before tax, and the third highest price when tax is included. 

Six EU Member States are also paying less than €1 per litre for diesel. Labour has tried to ridicule this, but no matter how good its publicity machine is, facts are hard to disprove. Drivers who have cars running on diesel are paying as much as one-third more for what the real price of diesel should be. 

Five EU Member States are paying less than  €1 per litre for petrol. Drivers like me whose car runs on petrol are getting even less for what they are paying, more than 42% less. 

Lowering the prices of fuels will be of benefit to families, small and medium-sized businesses, farmers and fishermen – the list is endless. It benefits our competitiveness in paying the realistic values for petrol and diesel. Everyone should be asking why and how are we paying exorbitant prices? 

Indeed, we should know how the government hedged fuel at these prices. But once again, this will require the government to reveal some of its secret agreements… judging by its lack of transparency so far, I will not hold my breath.