The tale of two Maltas?

The measure of success of any nation is not GDP but fair distribution of wealth. Labour’s approval ratings ought not to be an excuse to stop being labour and morph into a massage parlour.

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“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” These are the opening lines from the classical English novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. It recounts the social and political disparity between two cities, Paris and London.

Coming to our turf, are we living in two parallel Maltas, the Malta of affluence and the Malta of the deprived? Are some relishing the “best of times” while others going through the “worst of times”?

We would have an ‘ostrich problem’ if we denied that a growing number of citizens are experiencing deprivation.

Government adherents zealously point to a convincing showing of our GDP and to the credit agencies’ favourable forecast ratings.

While I have no qualms acknowledging such success, partly also built on former economic policies and decisions introduced by Nationalist administrations, economic growth does not automatically lead to a better quality of life. Sadly, this economic boom is not trickling down to all levels of society.

Those who conveniently uphold “It’s the economy, stupid!” mantra need to do a reality check. The recent published data underlines a stark and disturbing reality.

According to the NSO, the number of people living in households below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, calculated at an annual income per household of below €12,000, numbered 92,690 Maltese citizens in 2024.

This means 16.8 per cent of our population!

Since the devil is in the detail, the published data further reveals that 5.4 per cent of the surveyed population were unable to buy new clothes, while 5.3 per cent could not afford owning two pairs of shoes!

The “best of times” buzzword is rather insulting.

Moreover, if one had to go beyond the GDP/economic yardstick and logic, the situation is even more challenging. A new scientific study entitled Beyond Measurement: Insights for Well-being Policy in Malta, published by the Malta Foundation for the Well-being of Society, revealed more disturbing data.

According to this study, 40,900 people are living in material deprivation, 42,069 people are living in substandard damp dwellings with leaking roofs, 19,015 people are experiencing poor health, while 8,323 people are feeling severe emotional distress.

In addition, to add insult to injury, the disparity between the haves and have-nots has widened. According to data released by the European Central Bank’s Distributional Wealth, accounts underlined a growing disparity in wealth distribution, with a large portion of our nation’s wealth increasingly clustered in the hands of the wealthiest citizens.

Furthermore, clientelism, engineered vacancies, generous direct orders, inflated salaries and the everlasting sleaze episodes are all facades of social disparity. Social and economic disparity go hand in hand and form a vicious circle.

Behind the above-mentioned statistics, these are raw human stories we need to reach out to.

Their indigence puts Labour and its acolytes to shame.

Regrettably, beyond its gloss, Labour has betrayed its own roots and values. Labour’s approval ratings ought not to be an excuse to stop being Labour and morph into a massage parlour.

Now that an early general election is being hinted at, it is becoming clearly evident that the Labour government is trying to appease a number of vulnerable citizens by giving what many consider alms, compared to the government’s systematic generosity towards its “friends of friends” fan club.

In my political notebook, we must not only fully support those who are on the fringes of our society by distributing fish to the vulnerable but also assertively implement robust structures and policies enabling them to learn to fish and, thus, empower them to move forward.

The measure of success of any nation is not how strong the nation’s GDP is, good as that might be, but, rather, the inclusivity of its economic base, the fair distribution of wealth and the ability for everyone indiscriminately to succeed.

As a result, I uphold a social policy that empowers, rather than one that patronises, giving the right opportunities to all to move on.

One nation, one people…without ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’!

(This article was published on Times of Malta – 12 June, 2025)