Is Radical Change Cloaked by Crisis?

Political forces have turned their backs on Gibraltar, environmental awareness has revealed high levels of local contamination and a global pandemic continues to paralyze society.

These are trials and tribulations not faced since Franco shut the frontier in 1969, but are they also used to justify pushing through unpopular measures?

A growing number of dissidents on the Rock believe that the ‘Blame Brexit’ excuse of old has been replaced with a ‘Covid caused it’ smokescreen. Their cries are loud, direct and accusatory towards the Gibraltar Government, which they feel, has also shrouded draconian laws against motorists with climate change populist propaganda.

CORONA CAMOUFLAGE

In dealing with the coronavirus threat, the government sought new and innovative ways to recoup funds spent on arming Gibraltar against a deadly viral attack, but there was a price. It was the civil service that took the brunt of the workload, and perhaps only a public inquiry would reveal as to how widespread the strain was sustained. Streamlining the public sector was always in the pipeline for this administration, however, when the pandemic hit, it was the perfect excuse for the government to sharpen its knives.

The ‘work more for less’ statement by Chief Secretary Darren Grech was put into play, but when departments asked why they were so drastically understaffed and overworked, the excuse was always the same, ‘because of corona’. The complete lockdown of the private sector only made things worse for civil servants, who in numerous ways were deployed to pick up the pieces. Reports made to Panorama also suggest that a large number of public sector employees remained idle during the earlier stages of lockdown, thus further overexerting the depleted workforce.

As a result, government workers outside the GHA, who have experienced this sharp rise in duties, feel the civil service in particular stepped up during the pandemic, yet have received no applause.

PUSHING POLICIES

Another case where the crisis was used as cover occurred during a recent GBC interview with Minister for Housing Steven Linares and Action for Housing’s Henry Pinna. The Minister chose to blame the pandemic for delays to extremely dire and longstanding cases requiring immediate attention in his department.

At the same time, he also took the opportunity to announce several new policies and measures that would deal with any issues raised by his adversary on the show, such as a complete review of the Housing Act.

The activist also claimed to have been denied speaking about important housing issues highlighted in the Ombudsman’s report and accused the show of ‘turning into a PR exercise for the minister’. Linares did, however, concede that there existed ‘a lack of transparency’ at the Housing Department, but equally declared a policy booklet would soon be published.

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17-07-2020 PANORAMAdailyGIBRALTAR