First week of the campaign and Dr Bernard Grech continues to deliver.

Grech visited Gozo to announce grandiosely that to attract investment to Gozo he was going to open an office of Malta Enterprise. Lovely idea.

That was what Alan Camillieri had said back in 2010, with the development agency opening a business support centre in Xewkija’s Industrial Estate to strengthen the agency’s presence in Gozo. The presence of Malta Enterprise’s forbear – the Malta Development Corporation – goes even further in time with the first office in Gozo opening in 1996.

Since 2013, Malta Enterprise has attracted many projects to Gozo. Everyone in Gozo knows of the Barts Medical School and of RS2, just to mention two recent successes of Malta Enterprise’s Gozo Office.

However, the success is much larger than that. In March 2013 there were just 895 Gozitans working in manufacturing. Last September there were 1,138. A rise of 243 persons, or 27%. This rate of increase was twice observed in Malta during the same period. 

In March 2013 there were 895 Gozitans working in manufacturing. Last September there were 1,138.

In information and communication there are today 410 Gozitans working full-time. Back in March 2013 there had been just 168. Thanks to the efforts of agencies like Malta Enterprise, employment in this sector in Gozo has more than doubled.

Ufortunately, Bernard Grech has once again been outed as someone with little clue of what he is talking about. The fact that he has lost all his economic spokespersons and is left with just Dr Jason Azzopardi left to hold the fort as spokesperson for Industry.

One would have expected Chris Said to point out the mistake to his leader. However, everyone in Gozo knows that Chris Said’s single priority is to make sure that Alex Borg, who represents the Adrian Delia faction in Gozo, does not do well in terms of vote. 

Left on his own, Bernard Grech is proving incapable time and time again of holding his ship afloat.