Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1524591
THE blackouts recorded the oth- er weekend raised the spectre of another summer with electricity outages similar to that of last year despite all Enemalta's efforts to avoid a repetition. One is reminded of the Maltese saying that the scalded dog thinks that all water is hot (il-kelb il-mis- mut kull ilma jaħsbu misħun). After a weekend which included the warmest day on record for the entire planet, it seems we have some respite and the surge of elec- tricity outages seems to have been checked. One can never be sure, of course. The last time I checked I found that a power outage in Birzebbuga last Thursday was resolved rela- tively quickly. Minister Miriam Dalli must be flummoxed. She can only assure compensation to effected con- sumers. Despite all the efforts to strengthen the electricity grid, it seems Enemalta's calculations of the increase in electricity demand this year, were way out of reality. Demand inexplicably continues to grow while problems and defects in the grid keep being discovered. This is the result of Malta's cur- rent economic model that sees a constant increase of foreigners coming to Malta to work as well as a result of the policy of subsi- dising electricity which is costing the nation much more than con- sumers are paying for. Tourists and foreigners coming for work in Malta increase the load on all infrastructural services. How on earth is it possible that Labour's economic planners missed this point? In this scenario, increasing somewhat the price of the service to encourage a decrease in the de- mand is a tactic beyond govern- ment's possibilities, despite the monopolistic situation that the provision of electricity enjoys in Malta. From a public relations point of view, Enemalta is mishandling the problem. Instead of apologis- ing to consumers for the power outages, Enemalta said in a pub- lic statement that 'propaganda' was making things worse. This is crazy. What Enemalta must have meant is that public reaction to the outages led to the perception that things are worse than they actually are. But Enemalta should know that one cannot tackle pub- lic perceptions by calling them propaganda. This only makes the perceptions even worse. Propaganda in this case must be referring to the anti-government sentiment expressed by the com- mon man because of the power outages. Does Enemalta - and the government itself - believe that the Opposition has no right to capitalise on the situation which is the result of its shortcomings and incompetence? Enemalta must learn that the customer is always right and the way to tackle perceptions is cer- tainly not to call them propagan- da. Negative comments apparently add to the pressure that Enemal- ta is facing. It seems that the cook cannot withstand the heat in the kitchen. Enemalta seems to expect the public not to make negative com- ments when there are electricity outages, more so when the pub- lic recalls the disaster the country faced last year when electricity outages were a record. Enemalta must be thinking Malta is a coun- try governed by some wayward dictatorship that does not brook any negative comments. From the Auditor General's re- port on Enemalta, it results that the company has, for quite a num- ber of years, consistently not man- aged to invest in the maintenance and strengthening of the electricty grid as much money as was as- signed in its own budgets. This is not propaganda. It is bad manage- ment. It is the truth for which only Enemalta is responsible. The tenor of state aid Dr David Fabri had an interest- ing piece in The Corporate Times last Sunday. I know it was written by him because I recognised him from the photo accompanying the article. Otherwise his name was nowhere to be seen. The piece discussed the "grow- ing contempt for transparency and openness" - especially where FIAU is concerned. The author than delved into the issue of Joseph Calleja - the tenor - who is refusing to publish how much public funds have been given to support his concerts and other activities subsidised by the state. Calleja's financial advisors have pleaded that due to his fame, he is not subject to normal rules. His representative was quoted in Shift News as having asserted that dis- closing his fees would undermine his reputation and might cause him embarrassment. The tenor of the rules, it seems should change for tenors! This is an obvious clash between the Joseph Calleja's right for priva- cy and the public's right to know how our money is being spent. I have no doubt that Calleja's priva- cy is less important than the pub- lic's right - even though he does not think so. Fabri goes on to refute Calle- ja's claim that whatever public funds he receives are 'intrinsical- ly confidential'. He rightly insists that they are exactly the oppo- site. If one receives public funds, everything should be transparent, above board and open to public information and scrutiny. Calleja's claims are incredible and unacceptable in a democra- cy, and the government should be continually badgered to publish the amounts paid to Joseph Calle- ja and other artists who are paid/ subsidised directly by the state. That is how checks on abuses can be made. Until this happens, 'nessun dor- ma'. Where autocracy rules A recent issue of The Economist reviewed a book written by Anne Applebaum with the interesting title: Autocracy, Inc. To quote from the review: 'In 1999 Hugo Chàvez made a choice. He had won Venezuela's presi- dency promising revolutionary change. His chief of internal po- lice brought him evidence of graft within his regime: some top offi- cials were stealing from a fund for the poor. Chàvez listened, said nothing and sacked the whistle blower. Insiders got the message: if you are loyal you can steal. Chàvez wanted to stay in power for ever. He bet 'that corrupt officials would prove more malleable than clean ones, and he was right' writes Anne Applebaum. According to her, 'whatever their professed ideology, today's strongmen typically crave little besides power itself and the loot it brings. They share an enemy: checks on power and the demo- cratic world that espouses them. That common enemy spurs them to collaborate, spinning global networks of mutual sup- port.' When American sanctions were slapped against Venezuela, it found help from Russia and Cuba and it allegedly laundered money for Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian mili- tia. The enemies of democracy are easily identified. 3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 JULY 2024 OPINION Let there be light micfal45@gmail.com Michael Falzon It seems Enemalta's calculations of the increase in electricity demand this year, were way out of reality