Poverty in a Graduated Developed country (class 2008)

For this long-awaited blog post, I decided to go through a document which highlights the specific challenges involved in combating poverty and social exclusion in Malta. To be precise, the document is a National Programme for an Awareness Strategy. Last year, Parliamentary Secretary for Health Joseph Cassar (just promoted Minister for Health, The Elderly and Community Care two months ago) might argue that we don’t have absolute poverty in Malta, but what about relative poverty?

According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), 15% of the Maltese population is living under the so-called poverty line. Another scary figure which should set off the alarm bells is that 21% of children are living in relative poverty in Malta. That’s 57,000 people living in relative poverty in Malta. As anyone might expect, the two most vulnerable groups were the children (as noted) and the elderly. The Social Affairs Committee of the Maltese Parliament issued a document (unfortunately there is only the Maltese version) explaining that we cannot let those 21% of children grow into disillusioned adults without basic skills and knowledge, who will end up socially excluded and inevitably stuck in the poverty trap.

According to another document (last one I swear!) were it not for foster carers who were looking after 160 children in 2008 (of whom 27 Russian, 3 Pakistani and 14 Ethiopian among others), these children would have lived in institutions which could never replace the family despite the loving care given. The same document explains how fostering benefits children much more than living in a residential setting amidst another 10 to 20 other children.

I admit that Malta has a relatively strong social welfare system. However a question should be asked - does it intensify dependency, causing people to live off benefits and allowances? Maybe, but it seems that there is consensus that an educational campaign is needed to uproot poverty once and for all. The children who lived in families with a long history of unemployment inherit their lifestyle. This is definitely not a bone for contention.

On the other hand, to be completely honest, there was one party who believed that by decreasing benefits and allowances (this claim was made during a debate, this is the closest article I could find), the poor would be more inclined to go out for work and emerge from victoriously from the evil depths that is poverty. Thank God the same right-wing party “National Action” called it quits after just 3 years of crazy spending sprees without getting anywhere.

But back to the Maltese National Strategy for an Awareness Strategy; one thing is for sure, that “we cannot continue to rely upon traditional methods to promote social cohesion and reduce the risk of poverty”. It identified several problems that cause poverty, including “lack of employment coupled with inadequate skills, financial instability, poor housing conditions, family difficulties and social isolation”. In the realm of children, the message is clear – stay in school! Eliminating school absenteeism, managing learning difficulties inclusively, decreasing illiteracy and reducing early school leaving and educational underachievement.

Sounds easy? One would think so. Yet these goals have been on the agenda for ages, and we are still struggling to achieve them. A question of good governance? Well consider this, take the great mind that is Yves Cali. This guy is inexplicably intertwined with the government on every level, joined at the hip with the Nationalist Party, and on a given Saturday he wrote a glorifying letter claiming that Malta has the lowest unemployment rate in the EU, giving the impression that we are coming back from the recession. Just a day later, on Sunday, another person writes another (unrelated) letter pointing out that the NSO’s recent statistics indicate that unemployment in Malta is on the rise, an increase of 751 persons to be exact. On another note, the party in the opposition have an opinion of their own; albeit quite expected to blame the government for the existing state of poor affairs.  This is increasingly looking like monkey business to me!

Stay tuned for the interview with the Shadow Minister for Education and the Media, the one and only Evarist Bartolo!