Pseudo democracy

Maltastar

Corrupt pseudo democracy

Malta is a corrupt pseudo democracy. The Housing Authority saga which emerged these last weeks prove this beyond any doubt.

Just look at it objectively.` In the run up to the last election` a big scandal issue helped the PN gain popularity and democratically obtain an mandate to rule this country like a fiefdom for the following five years. Who could trust a Labour government that had pledged to be whiter than white and then in less than two years it is landed with a housing scandal of the Lay-Lay type`

The pre-election weeks are a difficult time` for anyone defending himself` from corruption. The claims tend to stick especially if their originators control a network of media connections which re-inforce the message regularly and effectively. But defending yourself from the accusation take time and in people`s mind as they approach the ballot box the person accused of corruption and the party to whom he belongs are guilty and unworthy of their trust.` Tell it to Alfred Portelli!

Years pass and the slow turning wheels of justice finally confirm that the corruption charges were void, totally invented purposely to do electoral damage to the person and to the party.` The inventors of such malicious campaign are fined a miserly Lm600. A small price to pay to gain the government.` They do not even bother to appear in court to defend their case. Clearly they know they have no case.

But it does not stop there. The Chief Executive of the Housing Authority who is proclaimed to have privately taken credit for participating in the sham scandal to shame a Labour Government in the last lap of the last election campaign, suddenly gets fired from the Housing Authority. No explanation or reason is given. The Chairperson of the Housing Authority who is normally very liberal with her criticism of whatever Labour says or does in spite of her apolitical public office, loses all willingness to speak, to explain and to give proper account to the public of why the Chief Executive had to fired.`

But don`t start any fund collections for the ex-Chief Executive.` Rather than being investigated for whatever caused his dismissal from the Housing Authority he is offered a cosy executive position at Castille and given a promotion. Yet rumours and implications about what led to his dismissal from the Housing Authority abound.

After several months of seeking corroboration the Leader of the Opposition makes serious accusations in Parliament about a scandal cover up and claims that the government is being blackmailed by the ex-Chief Executive in order not to whistle-blow how the sham scandal of the former Labour administration was fabricated.

In any serious democracy the government would appoint a full judicial investigation. In a pseudo democracy these allegations are first completely ignored and after pointed pressure to account and explain we get a judicial letter from the ex-Chief Executive demanding that the Leader of the Opposition keeps mum or repeats what he said out of parliament to permit libel proceedings.

The famous Chief Executive instead of explaining why he was fired from The Housing Authority and as a result given a promotion at Castille thinks it is within his right to remove parliamentary privileges to the Leader of the Opposition so that he would be able to stall the investigations with long winded libel proceedings.

See how the government treats its executives. Gauci Borda at the Ministry of Fisheries was shamed and sidelined for having the audacity to expose financial malpractices at his Ministry which the government shows no willingness whatsoever to bring its perpetrators to give proper account for their actions. Sciberras Grioli on the other hand is spared all investigations and promoted to a cushy job outside the Prime Minister`s Office. And meanwhile Tarcisio Mifsud is denied all compensation for the political violence he suffered and is discriminated by being paid the lowest performance bonus even though all nationalist and labourites agree certainly on one thing: Tarcisio is one of the most dedicated and loyal employee of the whole public service who works long hours beyond his call of duty and whose loyalty to the organisation is untainted by his political beliefs.

Lord grant me this` wish this Christmas. Let this be the last Christmas under a pseudo democracy!