Thank God I have no strings attached and I do not intend to enter into polemics with the likes of Mr Emmanuel Cuschieri. I don’t have time to waste. But I will never allow anybody to twist the truth in my regard. The facts happened as follows:
1) A month or so ago, I had a one-to-one meeting with Mr Jason Micallef, upon his invitation. Primarily, he wanted to listen to the views of an independent minded person on various issues concerning the MLP. He also assured me that this meeting had the blessing of the administration. At one point, he asked for my reaction if I were to form part of a programme on the MLP’s media. I confirmed to him there and then that it would be my pleasure as long as we discuss the content of the programme in advance. He told me that it would take place around September. Before I left he also wished me good luck for my participation in the Bla Agenda programme which was to be aired on One TV the following day.
2) Two weeks ago, I received a telephone call from MaltaToday journalist Karl Schembri and he told me that he had an informed source within the MLP who confirmed to him that “Emmanuel Micallef had been approached by the MLP to conduct a programme on Super 1 radio”. I said that was news to me because although I have been approached, we had never discussed the contents or the details of the programme. During our conversation the journalist asked me whether it would be a discussion programme or similar to the one currently produced by Emmanuel Cuschieri. I said that I am not Emmanuel Cuschieri and my style would definitely be different from his. Immediately after, I informed Mr Jason Micallef of the telephone conversation which I had with the journalist.
3) The story was eventually published on MaltaToday two Sundays ago. I must say the journalist was completely faithful and correct in his reporting although for obvious reasons he did not include the full conversation that ensued between us. The following day I received a very cordial telephone call from Mr Emmanuel Cuschieri who demanded an explanation from the horse’s mouth as to why his name was mentioned in my conversation with the journalist. I gave him full explanation (as described above) and assured him that we had been discussing the style of the programme and not Emmanuel Cuschieri as a person. I informed both Jason Micallef and Karl Schembri that I had a telephone conversation with Mr Cuschieri. For me that was the end of the story.
But Mr Cuschieri felt otherwise and wrote a letter to yours truly which was published last Sunday. His letter was based on the wrong assumption that I “thought it appropriate to compare himself with me”. Something which I, or for that matter, the journalist never did. It is obvious that he did this intentionally in attempting to kill two birds with one stone. He wanted to pursue an outright personal attack on me conveying the message that I am no longer welcome at the Malta Labour Party because of my participation in activities organised by other political parties; and he wanted to attack the MLP administration in sarcastically stating that “I find it hard to very believe that MLP’s upright and serious administration would make such an offer to someone like Mr Micallef”.
Perhaps Mr Emmanuel Cuschieri, who enjoys a very cushy job at the Malta Labour Party with a salary of thousands of pounds paid with “the few from the many”, is finding it hard to digest my participation on “Bla Agenda”; my participation during the launching of the book “Labour plan: New Beginning”; my participation in slots on One News and (who knows?) my participation on future programmes on the MLP’s media. I assure Mr Cuschieri that I have always honoured the invitations extended to me by the MLP's upright and serious administration and I intend to continue doing so.
As for my participation, in my professional capacity, in activities organised by the other parties and my present “cushy” job, following long months of experiencing unemployment, I challenge Mr Cuschieri to confront me on these issues during one of his programmes and am sure he would learn the lesson of his life!
Emmanuel Micallef
Siggiewi
Not second but third
I would like to thank Mr Charlot Zahra (Election Diary, MaltaToday 29 July) for considering my decision to contest the next general elections on the Labour ticket, and the birthday card greeting that I send to my constituents, as a news item.
Furthermore, I am grateful that in his article he described me as a relatively young candidate and at the same time equating my candidature with honourable MPs from the same district, whose seasoned career as politicians is known to all and sundry.
This fact not only brings me great honour and pleasure, but also fills me with courage, particularly when I realise that my name can raise eyebrows and bring irritation to a section of the media which covertly pushes forward the PN agenda.
However, what worries me most in Mr Zahra’s article are not the spicy references, full of perverse moral innuendos hinting at the righteous course of salvation so typical of the PN propaganda machine, but the fact that Mr Zahra equates Fgura with the Second Electoral District.
To my knowledge, Fgura is not part of the district mentioned above. This particular locality, at least according to the last electoral register, is part of the Third District. I hope that Mr Zahra is not in possession of some hidden information, the result of a hidden ploy, hatched in some hidden basement, which he has divulged by mistake. In other words, I hope that there is no hidden agenda to have this area reintegrated at the last minute to the Second District, even though such an eventual change does not worry me the least. What worries most is the lack of transparency in the action concerned. I hope that I am making a wrong reading of Mr Zahra’s article and that the information divulged was not some sort of Freudian slip. Incidentally, the Nationalists have become very famous in their recent history for making “lapsus” statements!
Duncan Mifsud
Vittoriosa
Bathing water quality
I refer to Bianca Caruana’s article, “Golden Bay is Malta’s third most polluted beach” (Wednesday August 8), wherein she stated that the dirtiest bay is St Julian’s “most likely on account of its sewage outfall”.
I wish to inform readers that St Julian’s Bay does not have – and has never had – a sewage outfall.
An outfall is the end of a sewer network that discharges raw sewage into the sea. In Malta there are two such outfalls, one at Ic-Cumnija, limits of Mellieha, and the other at Wied Ghammieq near Xaghjra. At both locations the Water Services Corporation is in the process of constructing treatment plants. Upon completion raw sewage will no longer be discharged into the sea.
It may be that Ms Caruana meant to say “sewage leaks” or “overflows”. In spite of constant surveillance by our personnel, these sometimes occur when the system gets blocked, suffers pump failure or other damage. They are usually repaired immediately and before any sewage ends up in the sea.
Stephen Zerafa
Head Public Relations
Water Services Corporation
Libya is a reality
I feel I must react to the article by Matthew Vella entitled “The French Disconnection”, in which he chose to misquote and misinterpret my contribution to this newspaper a week earlier.
I am not going to comment on the obvious antipathy that Matthew Vella harbours against Libya and which oozes between the lines of his articles. But I will comment on his mishandling of my article.
First of all I have to state that I hold no brief or PR contract from Libya to promote it or defend it. Secondly, my comments about Libya come from a personal understanding of that country formed over 20 years of relationship first on the political sphere and, for the last three years, in the business sector. My knowledge of Libya, the Libyan situation and the Libyan people are real and not virtual.
My position on Libya is not “blinded by the prospect of the Libyan gold rush”. My position on Libya has been consistent over the last 20 years even when Libya had big problems. I always believed in the positive effect on Malta of an active relationship between the two countries and I contributed towards it.
Also I did not offer any apologetic argument for Libya on the immigrant question. I simply stated that the situation cannot continue to be handled superficially by Europe as it is being handled now and that we must appreciate the root of the problem and attack it a source. That is how problems are solved. Not by finger pointing. Not by vilification.
Neither have I “played down the country’s mistreatment of over 2 million migrants...” The treatment of immigrants and the position of Amnesty International were not treated in any way in my article. It is a subject Matthew chose to introduce himself. I suggest that he visits Libya and see for himself what is happening there and try to understand the other side of the story. Then he would be able to comment from an informed position.
The fact is that Libya is a political and economic reality for Malta and that many hundreds of Maltese depend on this market for their livelihood. Also Malta’s relevance in the EU should be built on its unique capability to interface effectively with this country.
John Dalli MP
St Julian’s
Lorry’s pardon
I refer to the opinion column penned by Mr Saviour Balzan which appeared in MaltaToday (5 August 2007), entitled “In bed with excrement and urine”.
Mr Balzan referred to the matter of a presidential pardon requested for the late Mr Lorry Sant. “For history’s sake”, as Mr Balzan put it, I owe it to my late client and to myself to record the following:
1) I had been instructed by Mr Sant to act as counsel on his behalf specifically in relation to the corruption charges which were brought against him. The Court of Criminal Inquiry decided that there was no case to answer according to law, and the Court of Criminal Appeal confirmed that decision.
2) The matter of a presidential pardon is totally irrelevant to the corruption proceedings which, as stated, were definitely adjudged in the normal legal course.
Whether a pardon came into play in other proceedings which involved Mr Sant I cannot say, if only for the reason that I was never briefed to act in proceedings that culminated in a pardon.
Dr John Vassallo
Editorial Note:
Dr Vassallo’s letter is rather superfluous, since at no point was he mentioned. The opinion made reference to a criminal case against Lorry Sant which did not involve Dr Vassallo. It was Dr Brincat writing in the Sunday Times who referred to Dr Vassallo.
Council of State
I refer to the piece by James Debono, wherein he reports that Prof. Guido De Marco supports the setting up of a Council of State (5 August).
I am very gratified that Prof. De Marco should be in favour of such a move. James Debono was too young in the 1980s to remember when, in an attempt to break the political stalemate, early in 1984 I approached Prime Minister Mintoff with certain proposals which included an enhanced role for the President and the setting up of a Council of State.
I am very sure that Prof. De Marco remembers all this for when the negotiations were stopped by the PN, it was Prof. De Marco who took the basis of my proposals and the opening I had created to carry on negotiating with Mr. Mintoff. The outcome of those negotiations, as far as I was concerned, remained unknown.
At the launch of Azzjoni Nazzjonali, I stated that this was one of the key proposals of the Party in its attempt to bring the Presidency nearer to the people. I believed in it then and I believe in it now even more strongly, in view of the precedent created by the appointment of Dr. Fenech Adami to the Presidency, the various cases of corruption which include members of the judiciary, and the climate of political chicanery that surrounds us.
I still strongly believe now, as I believed then, that the President should be elected by the people and have enhanced powers to appoint the members of the most sensitive boards, authorities and commissions. Azzjoni Nazzjonali’s Manifesto includes the following:
1.01; The President is elected by the people for a period of four (4) years. No person can be returned to Office for more than two (2) terms.
1.02; The President shall create and appoint a Council of State.
The Council shall be composed among others, of ex-Prime Ministers, ex-Chief Judges, ex-Commissioners of Police, ex-Heads of the Civil Service and citizens who have served their country with distinction.
1.08; The President shall enjoy these additional powers:
a) The President shall be the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Malta.
b) The President shall appoint the members of the Electoral Commission, the Public Service Commission, the Employment Commission, the Broadcasting Authority and MEPA Board members after consultation with the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and representatives of Civil Society.
Azzjoni Nazzjonali hopes that this should go some way in restoring faith in our creaking political system.
Josie Muscat
Azzjoni Nazzjonali
Sliema
Foreign investment and the Euro
Writing in The Times (August 7) Emmanuel Fenech waxed lyrical about “the stream of new investment, Lm575 million in foreign direct investment in 2006”. He attributed this to Malta’s EU membership.
I would have liked to reply to Mr Fenech in the same newspaper, but as my reply would have remained “pending” for months on end before ending in the waste paper basket, I kindly ask you to publish my comments in your widely read Sunday paper.
I would have liked Mr Fenech to give the details of the investment he refers to. Had he done that, readers would have realised that most of the “investments” mentioned were “very good investments” for the foreign investors who have succeeded in making “a killing” when they invested “peanuts” and got in return 350 tumoli of land next to the sea, complete with planning permission to build a “Smart City” comprising hundreds of luxury villas, apartments, hotels, blocks of IT offices etc… for the princely sum of Lm65,000 a year!
As if this were not enough, the majority of Maltacom shares ended up in the hands of this same “investor” for a very discounted price together with another 10 tumoli of prime development land at Qawra. We were assured by Minister Austin Gatt that the land would revert to the Maltese government, but all indications point to that land remaining in the hands of the foreign “investor” – Tecom Investments!
I also wonder if Mr Fenech can explain how investment in Malta which had existed for decades, has left – and is still leaving the country – after Malta joined the EU: VF being the last example to leave this “attractive country to invest in”, as Mr Fenech put it.
As regards the adoption of the euro being one of the two major factors attracting investment, perhaps Mr Fenech can also explain why the new French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, in the run-up to the Presidential election in France, had blamed the euro for France’s economic woes. Or why have the Danes, the Swedes and the British decided to keep their own currency in preference to the euro – and their economies have performed better than most member states who have adopted the euro?
If he wants to know more about the pros and cons of the euro, I suggest he borrows a copy of another Sunday English language paper and reads Philip M. Beattie’s article, published on August 5.
“The proof of the pudding is in the eating” and we will be able to tell whether the “euro pudding” is good or bad to our digestive system when we start eating it, allowing some time to see its effects.
Incidentally, EU membership is already costing us more than we are receiving in EU funding. Just imagine what EU membership will cost us when most of the EU cohesion and structural funds start disappearing in 7 years time? How’s that for “investment”?
Eddy Privitera
Mosta
ALPS 50th anniversary
I write on behalf of The Association of Lyceum Past Students (ALPS) and appeal to all students who, from the year 1956 onwards, shared a class at The Lyceum Hamrun with the newly elected archbishop Mgr Pawl Cremona.
To commemorate a 50th anniversary from the Lyceum schooldays, ALPS is organising a Grand Reunion inside the main hall of the Lyceum in Hamrun on 12 October 2007. Our Lyceum colleague Mgr Pawl Cremona will celebrate mass at 7pm. A reception without payment will follow in the same premises. All are invited, regardless of whether they are members of ALPS or not.
To make this a great success, we are counting on the support and presence of all Mgr Pawl Cremona's past Lyceum classmates. Wives/partners are cordially invited too. For information call Mr Alex Borg Secretary General ALPS on 2138 6812 / mob: 9988 8579 or e-mail to: alps@global.net.mt
G. dei Conti Stagno Navarra
President, Association of Lyceum Past Students
Saving Ramla l-Hamra
The ongoing campaign against the rape of Ramla l-Hamra, kickstarted by Din l-Art Helwa, has now reached proportions of a loud national battlecry. It has provoked a huge awareness even amongst the usually environmentally complacent.
Considering the result of such massive negative impact, even a dilettante campaigner will surmise that a level-headed political party which aspires to regain power will take a diligent approach to address the matter effectively.
But will government move an inch to save the day? No, because it has became too arrogant to listen when the people are talking. We witnessed similar protests before and the result was always the same. Government acted as if it had a dictatorial mandate for five years.
Irrespective of government’s despotism, people will still demonstrate their disagreement and expect that in a democracy like ours they must not be left to fend for themselves. The people expect protection from the political party in opposition and when that is not forthcoming, because some stones are left unturned to pressure government to revert an unpopular decision, that party becomes an accessory to the wrongdoing of the government.
This may sound like a radical sweeping statement. But can anybody really contest its veracity?
The Labour Party, NGOs and the majority of people from all walks of life have exhausted their valid arguments. All to no avail as the government, fronted by MEPA, remain adamant.
The opposition is now the only remaining body with clout that can be turned into ammunition to stop the development, which after all is only beneficial to the few stake holders and detrimental to the rest of us.
The time has come for Labour to make an unequivocal declaration that when they return to power they will requisition the developed site, demolish the building and revert the area to its former glory.
Only this positive and democratic action will deter the speculators from ignoring the will of the people and think twice about their investment.
Charles J. Buttigieg
Mellieha
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