When it comes to ‘jobs for the boys’, will Malta ever change?

Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil was quoted in Parliament last week as saying that former reporters with One TV were having “one big party” by being employed in various roles with the government.

The thing is he would have had slightly more credibility talking about this issue were it not for the fact that when in power, the PN administration had done exactly the same thing. A simple search on LinkedIn will reveal precisely how (and when) many people rose to dizzy heights during a PN government.

I am not casting aspersions on their abilities (for all I know they were the cream of the crop), but I have no doubt that it “helped” that they just happen to have begun their working life by being employed with the Nationalist Party’s official party media. One job led magically to another as they climbed the rungs of the career ladder and hey presto, as you trace their ascent to some quite impressive fancy titles, you find that the same circle of people did really quite well for themselves, God bless.

I’m not saying this to justify anything that the Labour government is doing now – far from it. First of all I don’t believe that “the others did it too” is a convincing argument. There have been far too many appointments which make you wince and grind your teeth with annoyance because the people chosen are simply not suitable for the job. Apart from the obvious choices such as communications officers with the various ministers, where it is to be expected that the choice should fall on someone who is a party insider, there are other positions where one’s political leanings should not be the only determining factor.

Of course, I know this sounds hopelessly idealistic within the Maltese context where “who you know” and “who you voted for” are far more important ‘qualifications” than one’s actual competence, and can catapult your CV up to the very top of the pile in practically every sector.

But Muscat made the mistake of promising us a different way of doing things, and while many took this with a great big pinch of salt, such a promise was bound to come back to haunt him. Haven’t politicians yet learnt that you cannot make these type of electoral promises and not expect to have them hurled back at you the minute you go back on your word? Or do they actually think that people will humour them indulgently and say, “oh, well, we know he didn’t really mean it, it was just something he said in order to get elected.”

I suggest that, come next election time, as campaign strategists start thinking up clever slogans for their respective candidates, they stop themselves if they are about to come out with something that promises the impossible. For, no matter how much we may dream about it, I very much doubt that Malta will ever be able to get away from the culture of doling out jobs for the boys (and girls) who helped to get the party elected.

In fact, it is so ingrained in our way of doing things that I have often been scoffed at in a very patronizing way as people remind me that “it has always been this way, and it always will be.” Why? I ask. Why cannot people be chosen purely on merit without having their political allegiance brought into it? Why cannot people who have done a very good job in whatever role they were in, be retained when the government changes? Why does half the country always get shut out of any possible government-related job or project as though we are locked into a perpetual game of national musical chairs where first the Nationalist supporters get all the plum jobs and then, with a change of music, it is the turn of Labour supporters.

And whenever I have asked these questions, I am inevitably looked it with a look which is full of such pity and incredulity (as if to say “are you serious?”) that I sometimes start questioning myself. Am I the one that is weird and bonkers to think it could even be possible? What I have had to grudgingly accept over the years is that this is one aspect of Malta with which I will forever be out of synch.

Call me crazy, but I believe that a person should work their way to the top of their profession through their own efforts not because they “know” someone who can just hand them a job which they patently do not deserve. However, the great majority of people I speak to simply shrug with resignation and accept it as par for the course – “heqq, that’s the way it is. It’s “their” turn now and we have to lump it.”

And by saying this you know, you just know, that if they had to be handed a juicy appointment by the party in government which they support, they would take it no questions asked, even if they were not up to it, because it is there for the taking and they would be foolish to refuse.

In fact, I’m sure it has not escaped your attention that when someone criticizes the government, the reaction of some people is, “what’s the matter, is it because they didn’t get anything?” The implicit meaning being, of course, is that you are only complaining because you were left out of the goodies list and that the only way of shutting you up is to give you “something”.

So that is why it keeps happening and will continue to keep happening, because the culture of patronage and cronyism is inextricably linked to the way the political and social structure works with the tacit approval of voters who have long ago figured out how to work the system to their advantage. Electoral candidates, their canvassers and their supporters spread their influence, network and connections like long tentacles which touch every aspect of our lives.

Which is why I am asking politicians to please do us all a favour. At least respect our intelligence next time and don’t mention meritocracy or promise a Utopia where people will be appointed to top posts after public calls for applications in an open and transparent manner. We know it’s not going to happen, so don’t try and pretend it will. At least that way, you don’t have to make promises you cannot keep and we won’t have to feel even more disillusioned and utterly fed up of the whole political system.

Actually I would defy any one of them to go one better. Just be honest and say: “Look, this is how it will work, if elected, we’re only going to appoint our own people. Everyone else can just get stuffed”.