Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/580873
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2015 Opinion 21 Claudette Buttigieg W ith Muscat clearly losing control of any form of good governance, citizens are finding the main, basic principles of what is normally defined as just in our society, being challenged. Human dignity has taken a plunge, particularly where the elderly and vulnerable people are concerned. Access to information has become more and more absent with the excuse that it is not in the national (or commercial) interest. Equity has long been lost since Muscat discarded his electoral promise of meritocracy. Our government apparently promotes rights and liberties when in reality these are used in Muscat's political kite flying as a distraction from the worrying issues at hand. Of course participation has also fallen by the wayside. Muscat and his cabinet pretend to listen but then come up with ready-made ideas without having consulted the main stakeholders. Some of those ideas soon proved to be wrong. Laws riddled with mistakes made out of haste and arrogance. There is a general feeling in the country that anything goes. Setting standards In Europe there is a healthy role for government to play in the economy and social life. It must not get too stifling or centralising, however. Markets must be allowed to operate. But they must not be wild and savage. Minimum standards must be protected. There has to be a social dimension. Therefore the general trend is for governments to act as regulators and setters of standards. Meanwhile, the private and non-profit sectors are permitted to operate as long as they meet those standards. Joseph Muscat's government has managed to turn things on their head. Standards are being loosened with each passing day, so that Labour's cronies can do what they like. On the other hand, Labour is centralising power, so that anyone who wants to do anything needs to suck up to it. That is what throwing out competent people and replacing with incompetent Taghna Lkollers is all about. It's the formula designed to give voters and consumers a raw deal. It's designed to help the political elite and economic opportunists. It is also a formula that is undermining our institutions, especially those designed to act as impartial advisors to the political decision-makers. Transparency Last month the Prime Minister had a meeting at Castille, in his office, with the president of the oil company SOCAR, Rovnag Abdullayev, who also happens to be the president of the Azerbajan Football Association. So the president of an oil company and a football association is greeted "casually" in the prime minister's office. Once again, no government officials were present. It was just Muscat and his Chief of Staff. Nobody from Enemalta or from the Malta Football association were present either. The Prime Minister finds it very normal to have this meeting and issue a press release through the Department of Information. He tries to make us believe that, since he uses methods that mimic transparency, he is therefore transparent, and we should all be happy and continue minding our own business. Transparency and good governance do not come from issuing press photos and statements to the media. ITAR- TASS and AZERTAC also disseminate news on behalf of states, Russia and Azerbaijan, which lack transparency, where corruption is rife and where liberty of expression leaves much to be desired. Before and after Do you remember Muscat in Opposition? It is only two and a half years ago and I am sure that like me, you will remember he did or said very little which anybody can define as remotely positive or concrete. Yes, he was downright negative. Today, the sales pitch is definitely Muscat's forte. Everything and everyone has a price for Muscat, which means that everything and everyone can be bought or sold. And by anything, I do mean anything. Visas, passports, residence permits, ODZ, health, education… you name it, he sells it. Thanks to his sales, we now have people living on this island who we know nothing about. And yet, they have a vote and with it they could make choices about our own future. Worse still, we are being told that we shouldn't even be asking about these people because these are people of talent who have invested in our country and by asking questions we would be putting them off. We all know that the people wanted a change from the previous PN government. I wonder if Muscat's is the Government they really wanted. I don't blame the voters. This is not what Muscat promised. Voters got the wrong deal. Unfortunately we cannot go to the consumer rights office and say that the misleading advertising dished out by Muscat's propaganda machine made voters "buy" something they didn't bargain for. Of course the question is: will voters trust Muscat again next time round? Claudette Buttigieg is shadow minister for health (PN) W hereas our unemployment rate has gone down to a record level, youth unemployment in Malta is still significantly higher. In Malta, unemployment stands at 5% while youth unemployment is 8%. This is a phenomenon that is felt across all the European 28 member states. In fact while the EU average unemployment rate in 2014 stood at 10.2%, the percentage of jobless people under 25 was almost double at 22.2%. This average is high compared to other regions in the world and it is a clear indication that there is a lack of employability among Europe's young. At the same time many companies face recruitment problems in filling certain key positions. There are numerous vacancies wherein companies find it difficult to employ competent people with the skills required for the particular job. Both educators and employers have to work hand in hand to ensure that our young people can apply both the knowledge and the hard and soft skills they learn at school and in higher education so that these may be put into practice throughout their career. Continuous improvement of people's skills increases and maintains their employability. Young people need the opportunity to sharpen their skills so that they can quickly join the job market. In February 2015, a survey carried out by the European Round-table of Industrialists observed a skills-mismatch: a deviation between a graduate's skills and the skills needed in their company. Skills and experiences mentioned most frequently as underdeveloped or lacking include personal and social skills; autonomy and personal independence; working in teams, communication; practical experience; digital and technical skills and proficiency in the English language. We need to build the next generation of talents for the digital enterprise and to drive innovation from academia and next generation users to the digital enterprise. There will be an increasing demand from the industry for Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics (STEM) graduates since the demand for ICT practitioners increases by an average of 3% per annum. Between 2000 and 2011 the employment growth overall was 8%, comparatively high- tech employment increased by 20%. We must encourage the modernisation of our education system to ensure that no student leaves school without a basic set of STEM and ICT skills as these are essential to operate and function in a fully digitised information society. STEM and ICT skills strategies should be developed and implemented and at the same time business and research centres should co- operate to identify early on new STEM and ICT job profiles and the associated skill-sets. We have to encourage the spirit of entrepreneurship. Although not all citizens will become entrepreneurs, all citizens should have an enterprising attitude – towards their choice of initial study, to their careers, to further education and training and to their lives. Apprenticeships and traineeships are areas which have to be developed further. They enable students to acquire the knowledge and skills that are directly relevant for their professional life. They become familiar with a business environment which reduces the time they need to become fully operational either within a company or self-employed. This enhances their employability and gives them a clear competitive edge. Traineeships and apprenticeships foster the relationship between schools and business. This is why we must close the skills gap between business and education to equip youths with the skills they need to succeed in a global economy. Educators and employers should inspire young people to be more entrepreneurial and enterprising to start companies, bring entrepreneurial skills and better manage their careers. We also want to add a social dimension for active citizenship which will help our youngsters acquire life skills which are so important to 21st Century societies. We want our youth to have the conviviality to address adulthood with democracy and solidarity and away from fundamentalism and terrorism. A cohesive society is crucial for economic growth and job creation. Evarist Bartolo is Minister for Education and Employment Tackling the skills' gap Will voters trust Muscat again? Evarist Bartolo We need to build the next generation of talents for the digital enterprise and to drive innovation from academia and next generation users to the digital enterprise