Tuesday, 1st April 2008
An encouraging signal
Last Friday afternoon I was, along with another 142 local councillors, invited to the Office of the Prime Minister at the Auberge de Castille for our swearing in ceremony. It was a simple yet dignified affair which culminated with a brief address by the Prime Minister.
Dr Gonzi made much of the fact that this was his first official political engagement since he was returned to office and had taken the responsibility for local councils under his portfolio. The Prime Minister emphasised that he wanted to work together with all local councils to improve the quality of life of people. He stressed that we must preserve the distinction between our political role and responsibilities and the role and responsibilities of the executive secretary and the other local government officials serving their respective councils. To the latter he appealed not to discriminate when it came to serving the elected councillors and the public.
Above all, Dr Gonzi indicated that as a central government his new administration will be taking a closer interest in the work of the Local Councils and will also be seeking to work closer with them.
As if to prove this point, Dr Gonzi along with Mrs Gonzi and his parliamentary secretary Dr Chris Said, himself the former mayor of Nadur, took his time to meet and speak with all councillors present for the drinks which followed the ceremony.
While chatting with me and my fellow councillors from Haz-Zebbug, I pressed Dr Gonzi on an urgent flood relief project we need in the Il-Hofra area of our town. The area, which consists of a labyrinth of narrow streets and alleys in the, geographically, lower part of Haz-Zebbug behind the police station suffers from flooding every time it even rains a bit. As a result, people cannot leave their homes to go to work and children cannot go to school if it rains in the morning. Dr Gonzi seems to have made a mental not of this petition and we will no doubt remind him of it through the normal official channels.
For the time being, however, I must admit that the message that comes out of this first encounter between us as members of local government and the central government, as personified by the Prime Minister, is that, so far, we have received an encouraging signal.
Let’s hope it keeps that way.
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Comments
I suggest to you that you call your MP and ask him to place a question on the table of the House of Representatives, once Parliament reconvenes, to the appropriate Minister in your behalf. This way you will get to the bottom of the issue
First thing I said at the outset was: “…..when I see wise guys trying to ask us to STOP-and-think.! Think right & be constructive.” And “Why did this person Alfred, feel this NEED?” I asked.
Please at least try to understand rather than continue to assume that only you stop and think or pay attention. “The problem with all this is the evidence that we lack RESPECT for any authority and expect the world to STOP and PAY ATTENTION to every petty problem we choose to grieve” was your reply.
Rather than explain, I will give this info.
NEEDS are few. People Wants are many. Alfred felt one (1) need.
Respect is about understanding people’s needs.
An issue needs to be clarified and one needs to test/understand before he/she takes a decision to write or proceed.
A decision can only be as good as the info on which it is based.
In the absence of the above, it’s just a waste of time.
You assumed Santa Margerita is a Street. You assumed the Local Council is in charge of tarmac. Re Naxxar Road – no reply? You also assumed these are my personal grieve and beefs. I live in B’Kara.
Santa Margerita Mosta is a 20-year-old fully developed estate, housing over 100 families. The Ministry of Urban Development is in charge of first coats of Tarmac not the Council.
Naxxar road is a main road approx. 1 kilometer long left in a miserable state for over 15 years. MEPA have the legal tools. Any road trench needs to be brought back in full conformance to how it was in the first place, by whoever did it, big or small, Government or Private.
No plan with implementation sequence and dates, at least for guidance purposes is available. Therefore understanding where-we-are and where-we-will-be in one years time or five years time is not achievable.
There will always be the 20%. However, I think that if the attitude of Maltese Governments changes to giving professional implementation plans, 80% would change to respect and wait their turn too.
One would have thought that the MLP and its' leadership would have learned that by know.
Guess not? Don't you agree Mr. Scerri?
People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
If Labour was honourable, honest, moral and ethical would it not greet George Abela with open arms? Would it not let the candidates for the position of leader of the party to talk to media, hold press conferences etc.?
The problem with the MLP is that they recognise their faults and instead of correcting them they take solace at accusing the NP of the same faults.
Thank heavens 143,468 knew much better.
The system worked perfectly this time cause there was no gerrymandering; and please do not compare it to 1981.
First of all, without going to all the points he raised, I will address his "Min jibki l-aktar, u lil min jaf l-aktar, continues to prevail".
For those who need a translation, Mr. Buhagiar rolled two expressions into one - The squeaky wheel (gets the grease): and It's who you know (not what you know). In both cases he stopped short as the bracketed portions are mine. Since when does he think that this is a peculiar trait of the Maltese scene?
Mr. Grixti did not go into Dr. Gonzi measuring the performance of his subordinates etc. he merely mentioned that he took the opportunity to press Dr.Gonzi regarding the Hofra... His own words not mine. I simply opined that Dr. Gonzi at that ceremony probably had other things in his mind and that Mr. Grixti has other avenues and other channels he can use. The parallel I drew with Mr. Brown is valid and the size of the country has nothing to do with how local matters should be handled.
Mr. Buhagiar goes a step further by complaining on something of self-interest like a coat of tarmac on St. Margaret Street. Now this is in direct contradiction to what he wrote because here again, did he approach the local council? Does he think that the Prime Minister should set up a lemonade stand type of arrangement on the steps of Castille so that someone like Mr. Buhagiar can at his convenience air his beefs?
The problem with all this is the evidence that we lack respect for any authority and expect the world to stop and pay attention to every petty problem we choose to grieve.
I rarely write but when I see wise guys trying to tell others to stop and think.....! Think right & be constructive. Why did this person Alfred, feel this need.
Gordon Brown manages and communicates a big company/country. You do not manage big, that needs many levels of authority and people, like you would small such as Malta. So like you said the UK CEO would not be aware. Yet we still manage Malta with so many levels and people (almost 33% of all working) that the CEO does not know about many bad practices of some of his people down the line. Many priorities that are a definite inconvenience to all of us (MLP & PN) are shelved. The less important go ahead to suite the many elements at play that suite who? Min jipki laktar u lil min taf laktar, continues to prevail. So until our culture changes, which is what Dr. Gonzi is seeking to achieve and we start to MEASURE professionally, we have no other option.
I will give you two examples. Santa Margerita Mosta never received its first coat of tarmac for over 20 years. By contrast all surrounding areas built since 10 years have. Someone dug a trench in Naxxar Road B'Kara 15 years ago starting Valley Road next to HSBC all the way to Smart. The ministry of urban development is responsible. But since the list is not implemented sequentially, no one can MEASURE where-we-are and/or know his turn. And what about the heavy price of non-conformance?
To manage effectively and with resilience to avoid dis-satisfaction you need to Measure Professionally and make people Accountable. Not enough space here to say more. Little is dangerous. I will dare mention that non-conformance (roads alone) costs Government or all of us loads of money and reduce productivity significantly too.
Gordon Brown's Government (GBV) measures the price of Non-Conformance. For example, the public pays the price of road non-conformance in motor vehicle suspension parts replacement plus their time plus the cost of the car down time. Our methods of operation and view of costs are out of date. Since you mentioned Gordon Brown, when GBV took office, they MEASUREED and identified over 700 different simplification processes across 19 Government departments and agencies. These alone reduced the costs faced by their government, business and charities by over £800 million in 2007. "This is the beginning of a culture change across Government that will make a real difference on the ground. In the next two and a half years, that figure will rise to £3.5 billion net. The job ahead is clear." Said Gordon Brown and John Hutton.
We start with the title 'An encouraging signal' - that's a good start. My only observation is that it was about time people start looking for and appreciating signals which thus far have been ignored.
The Prime Minister chose as his first duty of the new mandate, to swear in the newly elected councilors and let's all hope that this exercise will not end up with some of the same councilors swearing back at the PM! Of course Dr. Gonzi gives importance to local councils because after all, it was a previous NP government that set the ball rolling and eventually created the local councils. But more about that later.
Further on, Alfred got a first hand encounter with 'the man' and was rather impressed that he took the time to chat with most if not all the new councilors. No wonder we love the guy!
Yet in one more comment Mr. Grixti stated that he was able to 'press Dr. Gonzi regarding an urgent flood relief project in lower Zebbug area'. Now, stop and think for a moment. Let's substitute roles here and location as well. Let us go to Britain where PM Brown is having cocktails with some prominent Londoners and one approaches him about some backed up sewer in lower Soho. After spilling his drink, Mr. Brown would probably tell the poor person that he should use the proper channels at the proper time and assure him that things will eventually be taken care of. Unreasonable you say? Not at all. There is a place and a time for these matters and the fact that we are a small country where everybody knows everyone else does not mean that we have to throw protocol out the window.
With regard to local councils I still think that they should be politically independent and not used by any political party for propaganda purposes. If there was ever proof, it was the last election. After two or three years of Labour's euphoria about winning so many local skirmishes, they found out that little of those triumphs rubbed off on the final outcome of the ultimate war.