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It is vulgar said the leader of the Opposition. I could not but agree. For far too long now, Eddie Fenech Adami has been allowed to act as if we failed to possess a brain. His free reign attenuated by regiments of sycophants who have treated him with soft gloves. I have seen the same, probably far worse, when it came to Dom Mintoff. Super One’s rendition of Dom Mintoff’s Jum il-Helsien involvement makes for some violent stomach churning.
So Eddie’s decision to sacrifice his persona, time and energy to block the Mintoffian tyranny in the eighties lent him wide respect, which he has now finally abused.
He started seriously playing with fire when it came to the Zeppi l-Hafi debacle, he only just got away with that one, because the media was effectively silenced by Richard Cachia Caruana’s persistent reminders.
Eddie’s crowning as President is a shame and a sad day for this young democracy. There should be no beating round the bush.
Listening to the outgoing President Guido de Marco talking to Lou Bondi, was even sadder. The pompous President deflected any thought that anyone should publicly question the acceptance of Fenech Adami as President.
If one wishes to move on in politics, one does not express those things that you should not say in public, he emphasised.
He continued by denigrating those parliamentarians who do not hold on to their seats for long. He linked their parliamentary longevity to their capabilities.
Unbelievable.
With that argumentation, Dom Mintoff and his long years of disastrous politics should be glorified and the man beatified altogether.
I am sure Guido would agree, he is, after all on very friendly terms with Mr Mintoff.
Back to Eddie, now, that he is to be President, I believe that we should start drawing the long list of gross mistakes he committed as Prime Minister. For the long list of achievements please refer to NET and Nazzjon.
In my view the primary and central error was his habit of meeting individuals, hearing them out and doing nothing about it.
I personally know of so many serious encounters, including courageous testimonies of citizens who risked their careers to divulge very reliable and serious information about high profile individuals and events.
And yes, Dr Fenech Adami did next to nothing about it. In some cases, the people who found the strength to approach the Prime Minister suffered for the rest of their lives realising that the status quo was to be retained.
Some Nationalists are genetically modified organisms programmed in the role of not rocking a boat. The clear absence of a Labour opposition has made their interpretation of politics a sort of knickerbocker glory. In other words a cacophony of useless slogans about solidarity, justice and other verbal diarrhoea that self-centred tax evading Catholics spew to prove that they are better than Labour.
Dr Fenech Adami is now unsurprisingly President of Malta and Labour do not have the marbles to order a Presidential boycott, even though they know that several PN ministers and parliamentarians oppose the appointment. So concerned are PN politicians with their political future that they have refused to cast a shadow of doubt in public about this appointment.
In his last speech as Prime Minister, Fenech Adami talked of the things that he would have wished to see crystallise, referring to electoral reform as the example.
What gall!! More so when it was Fenech Adami himself who drew a red line over the ‘Gonzi commission’s’ findings and proposals over electoral reform. Had he had the conviction to push this one through, the political landscape would surely have been much healthier, more diverse and more representative than it is today.
Last week, I made a plea to Giovanna Debono. Needless to say, it fell on deaf ears. I am not surprised. Mrs Debono as Minister of Gozo has allowed her environmental standards to creep below the depravity line. So, just in case, she has forgotten or is too busy treating her queues of disenchanted Nationalist and Labourite potential voters, I will repeat.
At Wardija point off Kercem, once upon a time there was a Roman temple. It is the western most point of the Maltese Islands. It has the most stunning views over Dwejra rock. And yet the path to this temple and the area on the temple itself, has been taken over by squatters who come in the form of dozens of trappers and have taken public and private land and made it their own.
Only this week, trappers and hunters rudely stopped some run of the mill folk from Kercem who attempted to exert their right to walk in the countryside.
Now, in between the long list of political chores, Mrs Debono may consider this to be a low priority one. But it is not going to be and until she gets her act together I will go on reminding her - until she realises that I am more than a hard headed knocker - but seriously desperate at proving how indifferent the Gozo Ministry is when it comes to environmental and cultural protection.
Until next week.
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