TIME FOR GOOD SENSE AND REALITY – before it’s too late

It has been long approaching, but the country is now at precarious crossroads and the time has really come for a dose of good sense and reality. The Government perspective is that everything is speeding along on oiled ball-bearings; the perspective of a dangerously-divided Opposition is one of doom and gloom and that the country and its economy are falling apart.

All statistics, both national and international, strongly point to a currently healthy and positive economy, and this is strongly borne out by increased consumer activities in virtually every sector, whether it be retail, leisure, holiday travel or relaxation.

This is countered by spectres of despondency on alleged doom of sharp increases in poverty, claims of people so desperate as to be forced to live in their cars and underground garages, people being cheated on utility bills, of the creation of a privileged and under-privileged society and other allegations all of which are totally unsubstantiated and NOT borne out by facts and statistics.

An acquaintance and ex-colleague of mine recently wrote on my Facebook timeline of agreeing with a statement by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo that it is highly positive for a Maltese and Gozitan to spend time living and working overseas – and I agree entirely.

Let me state straight away that even if there is ONLY ONE person living in poverty and ONLY ONE person sleeping in a car because they are homeless – that is a shame on the community and has to be immediately redressed.

However, having said that and not wishing to sound cruel and unkind, I have spent a number of years living overseas and have travelled the world widely – and my experiences have taught me a lot, a tremendous lot.

I lived and worked in London for 15 years at a time when financial and economic problems prevailed. Daily I used to see thousands of people sleeping in cardboard boxes on pavements, in subways, under railway bridges, even in shop doorways, in freezing weather, covered by a few tattered and torn, dirty blankets.

For those who know London, the areas around Charing Cross, Waterloo, Victoria, King’s Cross and St Pancras just to name some localities, but also along the Embankment along the River Thames.

I visited Paris, Rome and Frankfurt and saw much the same scenes – including the Police picking up dead and frozen bodies, mainly of drug addicts and those who died of malnutrition and starvation

I visited slums in the back streets of Dundee and Glasgow where the conditions of families living there made one cry.

I spent time in Mumbai (India) and Karachi (Pakistan) and this time saw not thousands of individuals, but thousands of families living in shelters made of cardboard cartons, over-run with rats, mice, dirt and cockroaches, begging to be given something for the children to have a morsel to eat.

At times such as this I used to be ashamed to return to my Five Star Hotel, overflowing with sumptuous foods and luxury and to try and act normally with the memory of these pitifully dreadful scenes hovering through my thoughts.

Yes, I remember too slums in Malta like the Rukella (Okella Agius) in Hamrun, slums in the lower reaches of Valletta, slums in Cospicua, people bare-footed because they could not afford shoes, young boys, men and women scavenging in dustbins and so many other things.

So today I question, why all this deliberate harm being bandied about? Why are there some trying to wreck the economy while unashamedly colluding with foreigners to damage the country and its people?

In Malta 2018 we have so much to be thankful for that even perhaps we ourselves do not know it.

So is it not time to bring all this dank despondency to an end? Is it not time for all politicians to work TOGETHER for the welfare of the country and its peoples?

When elected to the PN Leadership, Adrian Delia said he was embarking on a “New Way”. What “New Way”?

Why are there some trying to dangle the Devil’s Hoof over the people of Malta and Gozo when we have such a magnificent history, such a rich heritage and where by sticking together we have preserved our identity, our language, our culture and our history?

Surely, the time has now come for good, plain, commonsense to be restored?

ALBERT JEROME FENECH