One to Go

The Malta Independent



Four years ago to the day the unthinkable happened. A democratically elected Labour government, forced by one of its own to seek a fresh electoral mandate when it was just one third through its existent one with only the pain but not the gain to show for performance, lost a pre-mature election.

What at the beginning of the campaign looked like a prospective labour confirmation at the end of it proved otherwise. Which shows that the quality, effectiveness and consistent crescendo of the campaign make the difference, as a decisive portion of the electorate remains undecided till the last moments.

`With one to go the PN would rather not talk about these issues and keep us occupied with EU chapters, open or closed, derogations, concessions and great victories in being able to keep part of what we already have.` Two issues made the campaign sway the nationalist way. One was their persuasiveness that the financial deficit problems bragged about by Sant et al were figments of their imagination invented to justify their incompetence.` They impressed that the party can start all over again as soon as the PN were returned to government where they would be able to tap a cool hundred million a year from the EU.` The other was that the whiter than white Labour administration was in fact already tarnished with corruption of which Lay Lay housing scandal was a vivid example.

Time is wiser than words. Four years later we know that the financial problems were and still are real having erased the feel-good factor and extracted Lm200 odd million in tax money out of our pockets without addressing the underlying problem. The cool hundred million remain eternally in the freezer.` We also know that the Lay Lay scandal was a fabrication created by the PN themselves with the inside help of Sciberras Grioli and others.

`Whilst the Commission has proclaimed that new members will not be net contributors in the first few years, the Nice agreement provides that the budget for 2007 `2012 will no longer be decided by unanimity.` With one to go the PN would rather not talk about these issues and keep us occupied with EU chapters, open or closed, derogations, concessions and great victories in being able to keep part of what we already have.

When it comes to funding we are told that we should all feel good that the EU Commission is on record saying that candidate countries will not be net contributors. No one even dares make a guess of the net funding that we will receive and this merely three months before negotiations ought to close.

With one year to go the thing which stands out mostly is that this country needs a change from a fatigued administration that has abandoned all hope of addressing domestic problems that impinge upon our everyday life, and is pinning all its hopes on getting foreign managers to run the country.

Having got foreign managers to run our main bank, our postal service, our airport and now our national airline, what the PN will be offering us during the coming final year of its mandate is that on account of their incompetence in running this country which has lost its money and its soul, we need foreign managers to run us from Brussels.

Anyone whoever thinks otherwise is absolutely not in line with what`s going on in Brussels. Whilst the Commission has proclaimed that new members will not be net contributors in the first few years, the Nice agreement provides that the budget for 2007 `2012 will no longer be decided by unanimity. You can imagine whose interests majority decisions will take care of when it comes to hard money.

Alfred Mifsud

Where Does History Start

Maltastar 

 

Nobody seems to dispute that we have a crisis of confidence in our democratic institutions. Attempts to consider the judiciary corruption scandal as dead and buried by the resignation of the ex-Chief Justice and an ex-Judge were soon abandoned as both unsuccessful and counter-productive.

 

Instead in reaction of Labour’s arguments that the event cannot be considered in isolation but in the context of other odd events and decisions which always worked in favour of drug traffickers and against society at large, the government friendly media is making the argument that past Labour governments are equally responsible for the loss of moral values of society.

 

This always raises the often rhetorical question of where does history start?

“It all changed in the first few months of 1977 and for me that’s where the history of loss of moral values starts. Eddie Fenech Adami engineered the removal of Borg Olivier and his own election to PN leadership”

 

It is difficult to find one particular point in time which marks the start of history leading us to where we are today and identifying the start of the journey which led us from point A to point B.

 

What I do know however is that in the sixties society at large still had values and even small corruption and petty crime used to cause big scandals. There were no rapes, no teenage pregnancy and the vast majority was happy with the little it had. My mother’s little haberdashery shop used to extend credit to the poor parishioners who in spite of hardly having enough to feed their numerous families never failed to meet an installment. It was a matter of honour and honour still mattered.

 

In the seventies apart from sighing relief at the termination of the religious interference with politics, a vibrant Labour administration brought self-confidence to the nation making us belief for the first time in history that we can make it much better on our own and had what it takes to reach positions that we were conditioned to think that were beyond us and could only be filled by more brainy expatriates.

 

Respect for democracy was however supreme and taken for granted. Politicians were respected as people giving a service to the nation and whilst they disagreed frontally on most issues they treated each other with reciprocal respect. The relationship between Mintoff and Borg Olivier on a personal level was always excellent, active and open for free dialogue. Even though two elections were unfairly denied to the MLP because of the vulgar religious intrusion in civil political affairs making it a mortal sin to vote Labour, the MLP still played within the rules of democracy and waited till they were mandated to govern by the majority in 1971.

“It was democratically OK not only to criticise but indeed to obstruct the government in the execution of a democratic mandate.”

 

It all changed in the first few months of 1977 and for me that’s where the history of loss of moral values starts. Eddie Fenech Adami engineered the removal of Borg Olivier and his own election to PN leadership.

 

From the early days he made it clear that it would be a different kind of leadership which interpreted the rules of democracy very flexibly to suit the party’s own interest. It was democratically OK not only to criticise but indeed to obstruct the government in the execution of a democratic mandate. People had rights to topple government if they did not like it any more without regard to the term of a democratic mandate given earlier. And it was also OK to engage Zeppi l-Hafi type of bodyguards to offer physical protection irrespective of the dangerous obligations that such association with unsavoury characters give rise to.

 

White collar workers in segments dominated by the PN were marshalled into obstructing strikes to destabilise the economy which was restructuring from defence spending dependency to a broad based commercial one.

 

“Here we are in a society where most are living beyond their means”

The perverse result of the 1981 election did irreparable harm to society. Instead of taking a book from Mintoff’s book in waiting 9 years between 1962 –1971 for his turn in spite of having the democratic process disturbed by the mortal sin church interference, Fenech Adami cared nothing about the country’s wider interest and decided not to wait. He abandoned parliament risking turning the country into a banana republic and promoted foreign interference in the little island who in foreigners’ eyes could not find a way to manage itself democratically.

 

Even worse when his turn finally arrived in 1987 he ridiculed the values of thrift and dedication and hosted the vices of extravagance and laissez-faire making people believe that they need not really work hard for living. The consumption based economic policies, much as being juicy and effective upfront, were unsustainable for the longer term creating artificial wealth at the expense of debt mountains the burden of which is a shameful legacy for our children.

 

“the connection between powerful drug merchants and political accommodation is entirely the prerogative of governments premiered by Fenech Adami”

So here we are today, from a society where everyone could be trusted and where honour did matter we have to question whether we can trust anyone these days and whether honour stills has any meaning. Here we are in a society where most are living beyond their means, struggling to keep up with installments of house loan, car loan and credit card bills which absorb a large part of the disposable income from the basic salary. Earning an extra buck is a necessity and when overtime and part-time jobs get scarce the conflict between money and honour gets tougher and tougher. It seems to have overcome even the highest levels of the judiciary, which sets an extremely bad example for all the rest.

 

But the government is continuing to turn on the screws squashing honour and rewarding money. Engaging a CEO for Air Malta and paying him a princely six digit sum sets a very bad example in our pressure cooker economy where benchmarks are easily set. I have no idea what the new KM-CEO is worth but engaging him at this level as a full time employee of the company sets a bad example not only for KM itself but for the rest of the economy which is already suffering from excessive cost push pressures. Add to this the secret compensation of Lm40,000 revealed over the weekend by TMIS to Pietru Pawl Busuttil with strong smell of political accommodation and you just cannot but conclude that this country has lost its head and its values.

 

Whilst my chosen point of where the history of society’s moral decay started could be subjective and others could well cite different start points with equally valid reasons, the pitiful state we are in today leaves no similar room for interpretation. And for all the faults that could be pinned on labour governments of the seventies and eighties the connection between powerful drug merchants and political accommodation is entirely the prerogative of governments premiered by Fenech Adami.

 

Magicians

Il-Kullhadd



Dan donnu gvern tal-magicians. Bhal magicians ma jimpurtah xejn mis-sustanza.` Jimpurtah biss milli jikkrejaka illuzjoni, milli jurik haga li fil-fatt tkun ohra.

Kemm il-darba naraw shows tal-magija.` Blalen u mkatar jisaparixxu u jibdlu il-kulur. Nies jghibu jew jinqasmu min-nofs u tant u tant illuzjonijet ohra. Niehdu gost narawhom bhala mezz ta` divertiment.` Nafu li dak li qed juruna bhala rejalta` m`hi xejn hlief illuzjoni.` Nammiraw il-kapacita` tal-magican izda qatt ma nemmnu li verament dik il-mara sparixxiet jew dik-it-tfajla inqasmet min-nofs.

Ghal kollox hemm hin u post. U filwaqt li l-magicians hemm bzonnhom fl-ispettaklu u d-divertiment m`hemmx lokhom fit-tmexxija tal-pajjiz. Ghax pajjiz ma jitmexxix bl-illuzjonijiet. It-tmexxija poltika mhix xi show ta` ftit sieghat fejn kullhadd jiehu pjacir b`illuzjoni ghax jaf li wara ftit hin ser nergghu ghar-rejlata tal-hajja. `Ghalhekk huwa hazin u perikoluz ghall-ahhar li issa ghandna gvern li sar aktar jemmen fl-illuzjoni milli fis-sustanza.`

It-tmexxija politika tehtieg serjeta.` Tehtieg tmexxija dinamika, b`soluzzjoni rejali ghal problemi u tkattir tal-gid li bih u bih biss nistghu nilqghu l-aspirazzjonijiet legittimi ghal hajja ahjar tan-nies li jkunu afdaw il-gvern b`mandat politiku.

Ghalhekk huwa hazin u perikoluz ghall-ahhar li issa ghandna gvern li sar aktar jemmen fl-illuzjoni milli fis-sustanza. Li ma ghadux ifittex soluzzjonijiet veri u rejali ghal problemi kbar tal-pajjiz izda qed biss ifittex li jikkreja illuzjoni taparsi qed jaghmel xi haga` meta fil-fatt ma jkun qed jaghmel xejn.

Jekk kien hemm bzonn prova ohra ta` dan, tahielna din il-gimgha l-gvern meta thabbru il-figuri tal-finanzi ghax-xahar ta` Lulju.` Minn dawn il-figuri irrizultat tbazwira qarrieqa li mmanuvra b`irresponsabbilta kbira il-Ministru John Dalli billi dahhal flus mil-privatizzazzjoni ta` l-MIA bhala dhul ordinarju.` Dahhal Lm21 miljun` bhal li kieku kienu taxxi u dividend tal-qliegh normali meta dawn huma tbazwira finanzjarja li thabbatha sew mad-deception accounting li wassal kumpanija bhal Worlcom ghal falliment.

John Dalli ghandu problema tahraq fuq idejh. Minkejja li zied it-taxxi madwar Lm60 miljun kull sena ghal dawn l-ahhar 4 snin, fir rejalta d-deficit zdied mhux naqas. Ix-xoghol ta` Dalli li jzid l-efficejnza fil-gbir tat-taxxi kif ukoll zieda tista` tghid f`kull taxxa li tista` tahseb fiha,` gie mharbat mil-ministri shabu li qed jonfqu b`rata hafna aktar mghaggla miz-zieda fil-gbir tat-taxxi.

Donnhom qed jaghmlu apposta biex John Dalli jitpenga ikrah u jmewtulu l-aspirazzjoni li ghandu li kontra kontra ix-xewqa ta` l-establishment fil-partit nazzjonalista li qed jipprova ifixklu, jikkontesta lil Gonzi ghal leadership tal-partit meta Fenech Adami iwarrab. `John Dalli ddecieda li la ma jistax isolvi d-deficit,` allura jahbih`

Din is-sena dan id-deficit harab ilebbet il-quddiem u kieku ma ghamel xejn kien jirrizulta li fl-ewwel seba xhur id-deficit li sentejn ilu Lm55 miljun tela ghal Lm 93 miljun u sa l-ahhar tas-sena it-target ta` deficit ta` Lm77 miljun kien ser jinqabez sew.

Ciskortanzi bhal dawn iwasslu lil min irid il-veru gid tal-pajjiz li jammetti li mhux qed jirnexxielu isib tarf il-problema u jvara program ta` ristruttura serja fin-nefqa pubblika biex il-pajjiz ma jkomplix sejjer il-bahar.

Izda dan la jdoqq ghal widnejn John Dalli li ma jridx jaqa` ghac-cajt personalment u lanqas ghal partit nazzjonalista li riesaq lejn l-ahhar budget qabel l-elezzjoni li gejja.

Normalment meta partit jigi fi stat bhal dan li ma jistax jindirizza l-problemi tal-pajjiz jew idahhal nies godda fil-kabinett b`idejat u entuzjajzmu gdid, jew isejjah elezzjoni fl-interess nazzjonali.

Izda n-nazzjoanlisti jigu jaqghu u jqumu mill-interess nazzjonali.` Li jinteressahom huwa l-interess tal-partit.` U allura lesti jikkompressaw l-interess nazzjonali billi flok jindirizzaw il-problema jahbuha.` Bhal tabib li flok jaghti medicina effetiva ghal marda tal-pazjent jahbilu l-marda u jghidlu li jista` jkompli jiekol u jixrob b`deteriment ghal sahhtu u perikolu ghal hajtu.

U hekk ghamel dil-gimgha John Dalli. Meta qabad Lm21 miljun mil-privatizzjoni tal-MIA, flus li gew ikkrejati b`mod articjali permezz ta` self mil-Bank of Valletta li ser jgharraq il-prospett ghal bejgh tas-60% li fadallu l-gvern fl-MIA, u dawn dahhalhom bhala dhul ordinarju,` John Dalli ddecieda li la ma jistax isolvi d-deficit,` allura jahbih.

Bhal magician tela fuq il-palk u beda jaghmel illuzjoni.` Izda illuzjoni tibqa illuzjoni u bl-ebda mod ma tibdel ir-rejalta qarsa li d-deficit qed jizdied b`mod li jwahhax.

Ir-rejalta ghad tilhaqna u tibghatilna l-kont ta` l-illuzjoni irresponsabbli ta` John Dalli.