Please, please and please put on the crash helmet and fasten your seat belts. Zoom and off we go. Let us stop beating about the bush; first of all we should ask Mister Prime Minister to reveal all the agreements he and his minions – the ones who look like monks in a forgotten mountain monastery – finalised weeks before the election with what Richard Cachia Caruana would call ‘target groups’.
If we really are in the mood of judging Dr Gonzi, he should tell us what he really did before the election to ensure that all the ‘disturbed’ Nationalist returned to his fold.
In other words, how many ‘sins’ did he commit to guarantee another five years? Sins, of course, are subjective things.
There is little doubt in my mind that Lawrence Gonzi will not choose to share scraps or bits of inside information to show how magnanimous he is with his own people. It will take more than the curiosity of a journalist to get to the root of all his pre-electioneering flirtations.
The front page of this newspaper talks about the record number of social housing give-aways before the election. Last Wednesday in MaltaToday Midweek, the record number of invalidity pensions issued in Gozo was also published. It shows how Gozo, the island of Giovanna Debono, came a record first for dishing out invalidity pensions. Well, good for the Gozitans and good for Dolores and Giovanna.
There are many more special prezzies that still need discovering.
Now this is not corruption. Corruption is a describable, palpable and identifiable act... whereas this particular activity is indescribable, intangible and non-descript. It is an abuse of power, an ethical question that can only be distasteful if ethics plays a part in the political thinking process.
The list of Gonzi giveaways is of course very interesting.
And if anyone tries or even attempts to talk me into believing that any of our politicians, including Gonzi, should be trusted with the administration of this country, then please be warned of a volcanic eruption.
The long list of “those who should be investigated” includes MEPA, Housing and other institutions which were in a position to dish out favours.
But the long list of “bend over backwards Joey” examples is also endless and limitless as is my contempt for the Nationalists’ belief that they have a God-given right to lead us into the next decade without being questioned about their misbehaviour.
It could be the case, were it not for the fact that Labour is in a perpetual state of civil war.
But really, when the opposition finds its feet it should rise to the occasion and pepper the government with an avalanche of parliamentary questions about all the contracts that were awarded in the period prior to the election.
Which takes us to yet another topic, and unfortunately one that contributes to strengthening my wonderful good feeling for Dr Gonzi.
It has to do undoubtedly with the appointments and the choice of chairmen, board members and legal officers and sub-contracted personnel to government and the many other agencies under government. From ambassadors to toilet attendants, the hand of God seems to be everywhere.
It goes without saying that the promise, electoral by the way, that all appointments would be vetted has been relegated to the history books. No sooner had Gonzi announced his new way of doing politics than his former PRO Alan Camilleri was appointed to head Malta Enterprise.
A boy-like man who has no knowledge of industry is kicked upstairs and asked to run ME simply because he served Gonzi loyally.
Needless to say Mr Camilleri, who now heads Dhalia, is considered to be Superman and is now expected to bring in so much investment into Malta to make Dr Gonzi a very happy man.
Shifting through all the appointments on boards, one cannot help but note the candidates, the party functionaries and the party aficionados who have landed themselves in one or two boards.
And then any accusation of any favouritism will be tackled by shifting all the queries to poor Mr Rizzo at Police HQ. Mr Rizzo is Dr Gonzi’s trash can when it comes to people making serious allegations.
And as one can well imagine, all the posts come with remuneration and perks. And this financial advantage is what creates the super class made of blue-eyed boys and girls. The super class of individuals whose job it is to live better than everyone else and to look down at the others as if they were secondary citizens.
So there you are if you really want to get to places, lick ass and make Gonzi your God.
It goes on: the legal officers at the VAT department, for example, are once again people close to the party in government. For every legal letter they post to errant clients, they receive a fee.
One particular lawyer is a Louis Galea canvasser and a close associate of Dr Gonzi, who not only serves as a lawyer at the VAT department but is also chairman of two entities, the Mediterranean Conference Centre and Manoel Theatre. He has also served on the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools, and if that was not enough for the pitiable lawyer who can hardly make ends meets, his wife was Chairman of the Health and Safety agency. The lawyer, by the way. was recently involved in a company that had its debts amounting to thousands of liri written off by his own government.
I really love the way Gonzi thinks about his ‘family’.
As is to be expected, other Nationalist cronies are comfortably placed in key positions and all receive monies that really and truly are monies that could be saved and used elsewhere. Monies that could be used, for example, for some ‘good causes’ fund. But then again, 'good causes' is something Tonio Fenech is very good at.
In all these appointments, individuals who do not share the fascination for the colour blue are designated as ‘personae non grate’ and are kept out in the cold. 50% or more of the population fall into this category.
The conviction that Labourites and others are lobotomised cretins and should be treated as such, is fortified by this policy of apartheid managed by Gonzi’s henchmen in Castille.
Very much like the former ministers who were also treated like lesser citizens.
It is of course well known how Gonzi, under Joe Saliba’s directions, first used and then dumped people like Louis Deguara, Tony Abela, Edwin Vassallo, Jesmond Mugliett, Censu Galea, Francis Zammit Dimech, Michael Frendo and last but not least, Ninu Zammit. He may not have erected a billboard saying that his ministers are corrupt, but he did send the message that he was the party, and everything beyond that was just a name and a bother.
In his tenure as PM, Gonzi would privately lament over how ineffectual some of his ministers really were. He would voice this privately and then paint drab reviews of these men but always failed to find the courage to oust them out of their little thrones.
History writers will find great difficulty attributing ‘resolve’ and ‘determination’ to Dr Gonzi.
In typical Jesuit fashion, he waited for the right moment and that momentous event finally came on election day. Then to reconfirm or confirm how ‘manly’ he was, he informed the ex-ministers that they would not be appointed by taking his Blueberry and sending them an SMS.
Today Gonzi still has problems.
He faces a daunting task with Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, the disgraced politician who is derided by his own party but who is in denial about his future in politics. So much so, that he is blaming the leak who proved to all the world what a liar he was, and not himself.
Then we have Robert Arrigo, the man who believes that he should be minister but who was discarded by Gonzi for very obvious reasons and who makes it no secret that he is angry about the way he has been treated.
And then we have the splendour of Giovanna Debono, the Gozitan Queen, whom Gonzi would love to replace with someone like Chris Said but cannot because her electoral base is still far too strong.
And sure enough, next time round the party machinery will work in its usual Catholic style to shaft the politician who was once lauded as the PN’s greatest asset, and replace her with Chris Said.
It is a once again a game Gonzi is best placed to play.
Driving with your phone
Driving along the Mriehel by-pass, I could not help noticing RCC with his mobile in hand and driving at the same time. Behind, two police guards.
It is of course telling that Malta’s only unelected cabinet minister can drive and phone at the same time and get away with it. He is after all, the privileged one. The one man who can determine what happens to your future if either in the party or government.
But just in case you think you can get away with being fined by a cockroach, please remember that none of us can boast of the concessions afforded to Malta’s noble political elite.
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Disclaimer: No damages will be awarded to those who have ruined their Sunday best while reading this opinion and drinking a cuppa. Those of you who do not believe that Gonzi has dutifully only thought about blue eyed boys and girls are free to believe so at their own risk. The author does not take any responsibility if readers of this column suffer irreparable damage to their nervous system after realising what a lousy situation we find ourselves in.
