ALARM SIGNALS BEGINNING TO FLASH FOR THE GOVERNMENT – time has come for the PM, Cabinet and Labour P
It happens quite frequently that circumstances beyond one’s control create a fall-out of negativity for which one gets the blame without actually being responsible for that blame. This is currently happening to our Government but unfortunately the people at the top sometimes begin to lose touch with the rank-and-file on which they depend.
PM Joseph Muscat and other Cabinet members have often said feet must be kept on the ground, surveys and opinion polls can change at the drop of a hat and, as used to happen in the old Roman Coliseum to gladiators, the crowd is fickle and can change in an instant to turn a hero into a villain so that a Thumbs Up suddenly becomes a Thumbs Down.
I hope and trust the Government is VERY STRONGLY aware of this and their expressions of sensibility are not just words and they are clearly aware of the alarms that are flashing.
I will not mince words and will get straight to the point.
The people of Malta and Gozo are thoroughly despondent, sick and tired of the numbers of foreigners that have invaded our country – not of all foreigners – but a substantial number of them.
Over the last seven days there have been two mass fights in Marsa and Tarxien between immigrants from various countries. These are purportedly here with us seeking “refuge and shelter” – yet they are aggressive and create trouble. Reports state that Marsa and parts of various other places have virtually become a “NO GO” area – and I can understand why because many years ago I lived in Brixton, London and that happened there ... with very dire consequences.
To add to these, with great thanks to the totally absurd Schengen Regulations, we have been gifted with criminal gangs from Eastern Europe, pickpockets, thieves, robbers and God knows what else.
A glance through current Court records and reports looks like a United Nations fact sheet – packed with foreigners.
Many doubts are being cast on the role of Courts as a whole. Why are such a great number of foreigner criminals being arraigned listed as “repeat offenders”? If they have already offended and committed a criminal offence – why are they still here?
During August, three Ukrainian women, four Colombian women and a woman from Moldova were deported because they were prostitutes – in my book a very minor crime in the list of crimes. Yet thieves, aggressors and robbers have been allowed to remain here.
This Government has created a lot of employment opportunities, so many, there is not enough an ethnic labour flow to fill all the situations and some of which require technical grades that we either do not have or do not have sufficiently. Fair enough; yet this has a downside too and business being business, entrepreneurs are more interested in their pockets than in being patriots.
Some employees come from countries where unemployment is rife so any job at any wage is better than nothing. Most immigrants are unskilled, have English language difficulties and have little education. They are a source of cheap labour.
Maltese employees perceive these reasons to be the reasons to keep them on low wages because there is an abundant pool of foreign labour ready and willing to replace them. The numbers of foreigners are also blamed for current high rents because like commercial entrepreneurs, owners of rented accommodation are more interested in the profits than in being patriots.
Need I go on?
Yes, my feet are firmly on the ground because I get out and about and I meet and talk to people everywhere and of all kinds.
So the Government should be strongly aware there is currently a great sense of dissolution with this whole situation and further announcements that even more foreigners are needed and even more immigrants may be coming is being met with great groans of disappointment and disillusionment.
Above all, are we still keeping to our commitment that “Malta Comes First and Foremost”? Many are beginning to think that we are definitely not.
ALBERT JEROME FENECH
