local news

National statistics chief pours cold water on official data

If there was spin doctoring or control over information, then surely there was no proof of it.

In less than a week, the Government was facing a PR crisis.

First with the Irish vote that shot a spoke into the consensus on the Treaty of Nice and hence the enlargement process and secondly, with the announcement from the National Statistics Chief, Alfred Camilleri that recent unemployment figures stood at 6.5%.

The figure disrupts the traditional official figures, which are based on Employment and Training Centre data collation, which clearly indicate that the number of unemployed stood at 4.4%.

It will also add fuel to the fire ignited by Labour spokesmen, such as Joe Sammut and Leo Brincat, who have taken it upon themselves to query the veracity of unemployment figures – though, they themselves used the same statistical methodology when in government.

The figures issued by Mr Camilleri undermine Government’s political image, which bases many of its arguments on the decline in the number of unemployed.

A statistic that is used infinitely to block any accusation that the economy is not on the right track.

With Mr Camilleri’s candid declarations at a Corinthia Hotel press conference on Friday, Government has fallen foul to blatant disregard for controlling the dissemination of information. It is not clear whether government ministers were warned of Mr Camilleri’s press announcement.

Coupled with the rancid feeling from Ireland where the Greens and the Sinn Fein were popular enough to pilot a torpedo into the Bertie Ahern,Yes for Treaty of Nice referendum.

And though efforts were noticed around Europe that this would not derail enlargement, there were hardly any signals that it would speed the process before the January 2004 deadline – crucial date for the Nationalist Party who champion Malta’s pride and place with other 15 member states.

As the ramifications of the Irish decision became known, both IVA Malta fl-Ewropa and the Nationalistic Campaign for National Independence pronounced themselves in separate press conferences in Sliema and Balzan respectively.