Lawrence Gonzi and John Dalli think that the best policy with the press is to ignore them bastards. Well, they had better think twice.
John Dalli should know better. He knows what it means to be treated badly by the press and his own party.
But then Dalli’s ill consideration for the press can be traced back to the silly comments he passed some weeks ago, when he called MaltaToday “sensational” when all this newspaper decided to do was to run a story about a waiting list.
And only last week, he clashed with Karl Schembri over his report on Colonel Gaddafi during his encounter with the President. Dalli took offence because Schembri had quoted Ronald Reagan who had described Gaddafi as the ‘mad dog of the Middle East’ – a description which I must admit is very apt indeed – to illustrate the turnaround in Libya’s relations with the West.
Yet last week’s front-page story about a spending spree at Mater Dei, with millions going to Group 4 Securitas, elicited no response from either Gonzi or Dalli.
You see, both men have more important things to worry about.
This week I received some phone calls from the security officers in the employ of government (50 in all) who were not asked to migrate to Mater Dei. And at the same time G4S provides security at Mater Dei and gets paid millions.
I also received phone calls from the maintenance men at Mater Dei – 64 in all. And guess what? They too have nothing to do but our taxes go to pay (by direct order) Mekanika Ltd. to continue providing maintenance services at Mater Dei (see front page).
Instead Dr Gonzi chose to give the security arrangement to G4S by means of a direct order, and in complete infringement of procurement procedures. Why the private firm or anyone should be given the security contract of Mater Dei beats me, more so when 50 security guards in government employment have nothing to do.
And worse still, they were paid €790,000 a year in salaries, while G4S was paid more than double this a year from our taxes. It makes you want to throw up. Add to this just under €1 million paid to the 64 maintenance men at St Luke’s while Mekanika is paid €1.8 million.
But the worst indictment on both politicians, is that as they spend taxpayer’s money on security arrangements and maintenance, and gave parking space and facilities built by taxpayers’ money to a private company, they then procrastinate on including life-saving drugs such as Herceptin on the national health scheme.
It takes time to introduce such a drug we are told.
Does it now? And how long does it take for breast cancer to kill a person?
The only way that the breast cancer fighting drug Herceptin will be included in the scheme NOW is for everyone to scream at Dalli and Gonzi: “Get your act together Lawrence and John. Your government has been around for 20 years. No more excuses please!”

Dolores, pull my other one
Dolores Cristina, the former social policy minister who talked and talked and kept rent reform safely under wraps before becoming education minister, called a press conference on Friday to launch Heritage Malta’s new board of directors.
The press were told not to ask questions. It reminded of some meeting in one of those Arab states where journalists are simply glorified pen pushers.
It was the first meeting of the Heritage Malta board and since Dolores’s PRO Mario Schiavone happens to be the treasurer of Malcolm Naudi’s ‘institute’ of journalists, he prefers that his minister and political appointees don’t face the fire.
Since Mario, a so-called journalist, chickened out, here are the questions that should have been addressed to Dolores Cristina and businessman Joe Said, the new Heritage Malta chairman, MaltaPost chairman and Lombard Chief executive (all in one) apart from all the other things he is not.
The question to the minister: “in the electoral programme there were proposals on the transparent selection of chairpersons. How was this applied in the case of Joe Said?”
And to Joe Said: “If you were asked to advise as Heritage Malta chairman on a development project which involved one of your business partners (example: Mr Albert Mizzi) what would you do?”
To add to the surreal situation, Dolores ended her introduction to the newly appointed Heritage Board by telling the board members that they could express their opinions fully in public.
Fine words for a minister who will be remembered for not allowing the press to ask questions.

Lonzu, here I come
Well, the last time I referred to him as Lonzu I had a few phone calls from those die-hards who have a picture of Lawrence Gonzi in their wallet instead of their loved ones or the Virgin Mary. They showered me with expletives for having got so ‘personal’ with the PM.
I remember telling them, “why don’t you react the same when the PN media refers to Joseph Muscat as Joe?”
I could have put all this Lonzu story aside were it not for the fact that this very week, NET TV and that little read newspaper In-Nazzjon referred to what I had to say about Joseph Muscat but instead of referring to Joseph, they mentioned him once again as ‘Joe’.
I said: “The election of Jason Micallef is an indictment of Joseph Muscat. It says a lot about the 34-year-old leader, who has much to offer when it comes to communication but little to give when it has to do in taking tough decisions. It proves that he was incapable of stating that the administration needed a new face and that Micallef was not the man. He stupidly was scared to say this, and now he will have to suffer the consequences.”
Nazzjon and NET chose to continue referring to Joseph as Joe even though they were quoting me. They do so with strict instructions from Lawrence at Castille and Pawlu Borg Olivier himself.
To make matters even worse, this week saw the appointment of the new PN information secretary, the 27-year-old Frank Psaila, one of those Jesuit-trained Nationalist die-hards who dress up like a Forza Italia bodyguard and sounds like a pubescent Lord Haw-Haw.
In the run-up to the leadership battle in the PN, he was purposely selected by Joe Saliba to heap tons of praise on Lawrence Gonzi and heaps of nothing about Dalli.
Before the election, he rattled on the radio like a rabid propagandist with a bag of red peppers in his pants. At just age 27, his political thinking is fundamentalist to the extent that he thinks the only salvation for the universe is the PN and that anyone who is not a Nationalist is a degenerate hermaphrodite.

With a Malcolm like this, who needs enemies?
Here is a copy of a letter I have sent to the Institute of Maltese Journalists.

9 August, 2008

Mr Joe Vella
Secretary,
Institute of Maltese Journalists

Dear Joe Vella,

I am writing to you as a journalist. I would love to say, a colleague.
A large number of those in the Institute’s council are not practising journalists.
This has never been my concern since I am not a member and have avoided being part of the great IGM farce. Neither has it been my concern that the yearly prizes are sponsored by big business with an indirect interest in conditioning journalists.
You know very well that many journalists, as you did when editor of the Malta News in the good old days of Dom Mintoff, are bad enough serving their political masters and not their readers. It gets worse when they are obliged to their clients.
Last week, I was fortunate enough to have had Group 4 Securitas managing director Kenneth Demartino, a businessman, visit me in my office to discuss my ‘so called’ unfair reporting of the Mater Dei story.
I asked him where and when MT had been incorrect and he could not come up with any substantial examples.
Mr Demartino was accompanied by Mr Malcom J Naudi, the former deputy editor of the Sunday Times and present chairman of the Institute of Maltese Journalists.
Mr Naudi was present in his capacity as PRO for Group 4 Securitas.
Mr Naudi not only gave his free advice to what his client should be saying, but suggested how I should conduct myself. He also insisted that he should record the conversation. To which I answered I could not give a flying hoot if he recorded me or not.
I write to you to move this letter as a formal complaint in front of the press ethics commission of your institute against Mr Naudi, related to what I would consider in normal circumstances to be a conflict of interest.
In my far from humble view, I cannot understand how Mr Naudi can serve as the public relations man of a notorious security group facing media scrutiny, and serve in his post as supposedly someone defending or representing the interest of journalists.
The presence of Mr Naudi and others continues to reaffirm the perception that the IGM has a fundamental problem. Before it outlines a code of ethics for journalists it should get its act together.

Sincerely yours,
Saviour Balzan
Joseph’s funeral

The decision by the Labour party delegates to re-elect Jason Micallef is perhaps a confirmation that the Labour party does not deserve to be in government.
That we need to have an alternative government is not in question.
To see Gonzi age inside Castille means to have an autocracy of cronies and yes-men.
But it is not the PN’s fault if Labour cannot even control its own destiny.
Now the same old Brady bunch is back in town.
Ray Azzopardi the PR guy is back – he always reminds me of the One TV adverts telling party faithful which buses to take for a mass meeting.
Then there is Louis Gatt, the Michael Falzon acolyte, crowned even though the electoral office made such a f***-up in the last election.
Then we had Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, his father the fiery eurosceptic and former Nationalist. He too, as an integral part of the strategy group, should have been kicked out and yet he was returned to his post as party president.
Then we had Alex Sceberras Trigona, the unbelievable anti-EU crusader who should have been relegated to the history books. He now takes up the post of international secretary instead of the affable Joe Mifsud.
And to ensure continuity in mediocrity we have Jason Micallef, a dangerous fellow who will send Labour into an auto-destruct mode.
If there is any proof of his double-dealing (and that of Peppi Azzopardi) read his comment on Peppi in today’s interview.
Jason, Stefan and Louis Gatt should have done the honourable thing and resigned. Former deputy leader Charles Mangion did the honourable thing and resigned, and in so doing confirmed that he knows when it is time to quit.
Yet if there is anyone to blame for this mess it has to be the Labour leader himself, the man whom Lonzu insists should be called Joe. Because Joseph Muscat lacked the political courage to say that he preferred Joe Vella Bonnici to Jason Micallef.
He probably says that he could not support Joe Vella Bonnici openly, but as everyone knows, he did indirectly. But many delegates did not know that.
What was even worse was that Joseph Muscat’s aides were allowed to campaign for Jason Micallef, and in doing so the delegates thought that it was Joseph talking.
Joseph has underestimated the damage all this will do to Labour.
Joseph Muscat owed it to this country to build a strong opposition, but now all he has is a resurrected group of men from yesteryear that look like some phoney American evangelist congregation that do more singing than praying.

Paul Pace
The directive to nurses at the Paul Boffa hospital by Mr Paul Pace of the nurses’ union should be noted.
Mr Pace ordered his nurses not to attend to cancer patients who are ‘hazardous’, whatever that means.
Well if that is not criminal, what is? Paul Pace’s actions are equivalent to the worst form of cruelty one could ever imagine.
If his members cannot see through this then they too are heartless folks who should not be treated with respect.
Perhaps John Dalli could intervene and send Paul Pace into outer space – away from all the hazardous patients that exist in this world.
And on Paul Pace’s trajectory a label should be attached: on a mission, do not return to sender!