“J’Alla naghmlu mitt sena ohra,” a Radio 101 listener told the Prime Minister’s brother Michael Gonzi, a parliamentarian and a doctor who hails from St Paul’s Bay and who was sort of hosting the radio show. For the benefit of the non-Maltese, the literal translation is: ‘God willing, we will be there for another 100 years.’
It is of course something very few of us hope for.
To live until the venerable age of 100 is certainly not part of the plan. And to find the same party at the helm of the country in a 100 years’ time must surely be the worst nightmare I could possibly think of.
But to many Radio 101 listeners, the desire to have the same government in place for the next century seems to inspire confidence for some. It is of course not very different to one-party rule, or in more simple terms a dynasty – not even dictatorships last a century.
The scary thing is that many Nationalist bigwigs truly believe that they should remain there forever. In the general conference everything is planned for the imaginary date which happens to be 2015. Which means that the PN does not only expect to win this election but the one after this one.
Which means that they are really hoping to be around for 30 years. With this kind of forward planning no wonder most of us are thinking of emigrating to another country.
Only this week we greeted a number of Russian journalists at our offices. The Russians found nothing awkward with the fact that former KGB officer and now supreme President Vladimir Putin and his party have more than 75 per cent of the electoral vote.
And listening to the coterie of Radio 101 hosts, you get the feeling that many of them wouldn’t really mind if Lawrence Gonzi was elevated to the status of Putin.
In the last 20 years, the dominance of one party over the other has led to the glorification of cronyism and political patronage. Every appointment in the state and state-related institutions has been linked to political lineage. Appointments do not come without financial gain, salaries, cars, paid phone bills and other allowances. If one needs proof of this, they can start looking at the list of ambassadors, chairpersons, and press officers whose appointment is specifically linked to party allegiance. If this is all a great coincidence, then I am terribly sorry.
Like royalty who renege on plebeians from marrying into the family, the Radio 101 ilk believe the same should happen. And they have in fact done worse.
They have pressed forward with what they very justifiably and admirably assailed and criticised over 20 years ago. The resultant de-franchising has led the Labour party to face unimaginable pressure from its own supporters and activists to guarantee that when in power, they will do exactly the same as the Nationalists did – which serves as the best example of the sorry state of our politics.
The question I ask is why should Jason Micallef, the impulsive, young MLP secretary-general, be targeted for bragging to a closed session of Labourites that a future MLP government would be thinking of its flock… when this is exactly what is happening today?
While he could do with keeping his mouth shut, Micallef is obviously not expected to state he will not be reappointing Marisa Micallef Leyson or Peter Fenech, for example. But in reality everyone knows that reappointing these people is quite possible.
Many argue that they cannot bear to consider the prospect of Labour being elected. But is it the policies they do not like, or is it the faces?
I am quite convinced Jason Micallef and Alfred Sant have few if any kind thoughts for MaltaToday and Illum, possibly fantasising they should be both mothballed. But then I recall that under this administration there have been similar moments. As Carmen Sammut yesterday commented on RTK, the proof that someone is doing the right job in the media is to be attacked by all sides.
The pertinent and more important aspect in all this is the need to accept that change is inevitable. Sooner or later, the PN will have to move out. Dr Gonzi has not brought about the political change everyone expected. But he has had his achievements. His biggest minus has been his unrepentant stand for his ministers when they have embarrassed his government over and over again.
The two political parties remind me of that long established coffee shop which stubbornly refuses to change its décor, which offers the same coffee, the same sandwiches drenched in mayonnaise, and the same showcases with the same old whisky bottle.

But if proof was needed that we cannot take politicians seriously, the case of Silvio Debono is perhaps the ideal illustration.
This little known man was once upon a time a Xandir Malta reporter at the time when the station served as the unrefined propaganda machine for the Mintoffian government. Many moons later he resurfaced, only to find himself as a management consultant for Joe Saliba, the Nationalist party secretary-general who, despite the grumbles of many, nevertheless hangs on to his seat.
Debono’s role at the PN was to study the administrative setup, and his report led to many crucial individuals to say adieu and part with the PN after years of dedicating their adult life to the party. The irony being that, it had to be a little stranger with a Mintoffian background to be contracted with the job of transcribing a report that would lead to the axing of so many people.
But Silvio Debono is just another Godfrey Grima, just as Godfrey was commissioned by Joe Saliba to prepare a report on the PN’s abysmal performance in the 2004 election, and then later asked to do the same by the Labour party with regards to their electoral performance.
Debono was following in the steps of Godfrey, this time moving to the Labour party to draw up a report on the administration at Super One and only recently, having moved into the inner sanctorum of the Labour party, where he has been at the side of both Jason Micallef and Dr Alfred Sant.
Debono, who every Sunday hits out at critics of the Labour party, has of course not told his One Radio listeners that he was once on the payroll of the Nationalist party. If he did they wouldn’t be too happy with him.
But I guess both Godfrey and Silvio think it is quite natural for professionals of their remarkable stature to serve both God and the Devil. And please do not ask me who is God and who is the Devil.
I guess I have still much to learn from life. If I had an advertising agency I could serve to promote a campaign in favour of the tobacco industry and at the same time organise another against tobacco. I am sure no one would accuse me of being a schizoid.
Mr Debono, who runs a project called Ideamalta, wakes up every Sunday morning on One radio with a clear brief of what to say and how to say it. He makes it a point to refer to the weekly article of his secretary-general in the Kullhadd newspaper but rarely if ever, of other top political figures. He is clearly his master’s voice.
Yet Silviuccio has the nerve to hit out at the independent media for what he calls their mistreatment of the Labour party. And as that hoarse voice from a radio listener recently said, ‘Iz-zejt jitla f’wicc l-ilma’ – the truth, dear Silviuccio, always surfaces.

sbalzan@mediatoday.com.mt