Joining Italy – The Malta Independent
Tuesday, 20 September 2022, 08:42
Last update: about 38 minutes ago
Elections and governments come and go but Malta and Italy need a constant strong strategic partnership whoever is in government in both countries. It would be shortsighted to restrict this cooperation to the fight against human trafficking and human smuggling from North Africa. We must continue to work together to fight all types of economic crime such as tax evasion and money laundering.
We want to strengthen our collaboration in the framework of the Central Mediterranean Security Initiative to fight the trafficking of oil, weapons, drugs, medicine and waste that takes place on the Hurds Bank . The fact that this area is beyond the national jurisdiction of both Italy and Malta makes cooperation against transnational crime more complicated.
If Matteo Salvini becomes Minister of the Interior after the upcoming Italian general election, Italy will take a tougher line on immigration. Does this inevitably mean that Malta will become the weakest link in the EU’s southern borders and the influx of immigration will be diverted from Lampedusa to Malta?
The pressure will grow but it also depends on the starting points of the exit from Libya and our indispensable cooperation with the Libyan Coast Guards.
Malta and Italy also need to cooperate more in the fields of business and culture seeking joint projects in industry, trade, green energy and cultural and religious dialogue in the Sea Our diverse Mediterranean.
A government of Giorgia Meloni will stress that the EU is an intergovernmental and non-federal union and that it remains an important role for the decision of the sovereign states. We should find common ground on this as it is not in our interest to be absorbed into one federal European Union for all. We should not be shy to assert our national interest in the EU. Other Member States do this, even if they hide their situation.
Malta and Italy also need to work together to push the Mediterranean and Africa further up the EU agenda. As a third of the EU Member States (9 out of 27) the Mediterranean European countries are letting the Eastern Neighborhood and the Indo-Pacific dominate the EU agenda to the detriment of our relationship with the Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan Africa. Our geopolitical absence in the African continent is allowing developments there not only to be without the EU but also against the EU.
It is in the common interest of Malta, Italy and the EU to remind the other Member States that by 2050 the 54 African countries will have a total population of 2.5 billion, mostly young people looking for employment.
It is for the mutual benefit of the two neighboring continents to work together on development, peace, climate change, energy, regular migration, building new regional supply and value chains in projects of ‘ nearshoring to create wealth and jobs so that people do not have to migrate in search of a better life. We should also work together in culture and education to grow each other and understand each other better.
A tale of two Kenyas
Kenya is one of the fastest growing economies in Africa and over the last few years has managed to reduce poverty to 33% of its population of 54 million people. In the elections held six weeks ago, most of the campaigns at local, regional and national level focused on the economy, corruption and good governance.
Parties and candidates tried to attract voters by promising to address the problems facing ordinary Kenyans, to improve their incomes and welfare and build a better Kenya. They will be followed closely by a media that is active in holding politicians accountable. Will the elected politicians fulfill their promises?
The poor in rural Kenya live on 25 euros a month. In urban Kenya they live on 42 euros a month. 68% of Kenyans live in rural areas and are totally dependent on the informal agricultural economy that is fed by rain, lacking reservoirs and dams as necessary infrastructure for water conservation. This type of agriculture suffers from low production and poor marketing.
82% of the total land in Kenya is arid or semi-arid. An additional 4.1 million Kenyans have been thrown into severe food insecurity due to the drought. The daily life of the majority of Kenyans has been worsened by Covid and the war in Ukraine which has increased the prices of maize, their staple food, and fertilizer, indispensable for agriculture theirs.
Poverty is also due to bad governance, lack of land, low wages, unemployment and lack of infrastructure in education, health, roads and water.
Poverty and money play a big role in politics. During election campaigns politicians hand out documents to mobilize crowds for demonstrations, although the lower turnout (65% compared to 79% in 2017) shows that this does not necessarily lead to voting for politicians who they use patronage to try to garner votes.
Men, women, young people and children are given up to 8 euros to attend the rallies. A man traveled 150km to bring that money to a rally only to be killed by being accidentally killed by a candidate’s bodyguard car.
The situation has become so dire that poor Kenyan mothers can only buy a few tablespoons of cooking oil at a time for their families.
Young people cannot afford to leave their parents’ homes. When they live in Nairobi, they only rent a room as the rent is high (€150 per month). Young people feel that politicians do not care about them and say “Why should I vote and put someone in power who does not care about me?”
Kenyan politics is among the most expensive in the world. Candidates who campaign successfully to become senators spend up to €426,000 in their campaign. The governors spend up to €300,000. Members of Parliament spend up to €200,000 to be elected. Losing candidates also lose because they have less money to spend than successful ones.
There will be pressure from Kenya’s vibrant civil society to put pressure on political parties to support campaign finance reform to make Kenyan politics accessible and affordable for talented and honest people who want to enter in politics for the good of the Kenyan people.