I received a government leaflet this week; it talked of a rosy future.
Yet another one of those false political messages.
The whole world is crying wolf and here in this blessed Island the same politicians who argued before March 8 that it would be a bumper year are trying to paint black to white.
The leaflet had a young face of a young finance minister and it was designed to give the impression that heaven is to be found here in the Malta of networks, omerta and kick-backs.
Dr Gonzi’s government and his posse of cronies really believe that they have created the next best thing to heaven and that everyone out there believes that it is. This is not the Nationalist party many Nationalists had wished for. And yet Gonzi goes on governing in his own obstinate and self-centred way.
Really and truly what we have is a ‘dishonest’ government willing to waste public finances to guarantee jobs for the boys. From Malta Enterprise to the Mediterranean Conference Centre patronage rules okay.
Now if you really think I am exaggerating please bear with me and read on.
It is bad enough to see that the circle of people who are awarded contracts, appointments and sub-contracts are the same chosen few. The ones that are selected by Dr Gonzi’s right hand man, Edgar Galea Curmi, on the pretext that they have either offered the party a service or have indicated that they will offer a service.
Galea Curmi knows that everyone has a soul and a price.
As we scan the boards and committees we learn of the party faithful who are appointed not on the strength of their abilities but rather on to what extent they have browned their tongues.
Yes, metaphorically browned their tongues.
Take Jesmond Bonello – one of the PN’s most loyal and fervent supporters. A Times of Malta ex-journalist who specialised in spin, and who now runs a media company that specialises in promoting, among other things, government campaigns such as the Eurochangeover campaign (for a price of course).
He now sits together with Alan Camilleri, Gonzi’s former PRO on the Malta Enterprise board for an allowance.
If you think this is not shocking, just check out the sub-contracted law firm that ‘helps out’ at MaltaEnterprise for a cosy retainer.
Gonzi has developed a system which favours a small clique of people, and in the process ignores the vast majority of eligible Nationalists, Labourites and non-political people.
He knows that the electorate is so dumb and intellectually limited that he can take them for a walk on the wild side by simply smiling and waving his hands.
Now you do not have to look far to search for other individuals who have had it good. There are fine examples such as Louis Galea’s former canvasser and Edgar Galea Curmi’s buddy; Peter Fenech, the son of Frank Fenech of Jumbo Lido fame and a well-known party man, or Peter Fenech’s wife Roberta.
Here we can find ample confirmation on how widespread is government’s choice of people who decide and get paid by our taxes on party allegiance rather than on meritocracy.
The argument put forward by die-hard Nationalists is that you can never trust the Labourites since they are corrupt and build their politics on favouritism.
That point of view holds no ground today.
Today the Nationalists that rule are as rotten as the Labourites. They are the new Mintoffians. But being rotten is one thing, being deceptive is worse.
The great deception is reconfirmed by the spending spree organised in great detail by the cronies in the Office of the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and implemented with lightning efficiency before the election.
The unbelievable lust to win over every vote.
The scandalous direct orders at Mater Dei together with the plethora of other tenders and appointments underline the politics of Lawrence Gonzi.
When in 2004 his foreign minister John Dalli was under investigation by the auditor general, the Prime Minister had said: “I cannot have a minister who faces an investigation.” He was, was he not, referring to the auditor general, not to the lies concocted by the former Where’s Everybody ‘consultant’ Joe Zahra.
John Dalli resigned. And then in the last days of 2007, Gonzi called him back even though there was no conclusive auditor’s report.
With that reasoning, it is hard to understand why the Prime Minister has not contacted Eddie, the former Prime Minister who made himself President, and offered his own resignation.
The value of words, most especially when they originate from the mouth of a politician, should be seriously underrated.
Needless to say the PM has not realised that the Auditor General has now commenced to investigate the serious allegation that direct tenders worth millions of liri were awarded to firms and people like Kenneth DeMartino.
And if shame has no place in Gonzi’s mind, then surely there is no reason to explain why, for example, an immense parking lot at Mater Dei built by public funds for a public service is not only administered once again by Kenneth DeMartino and the company he heads, but that he is allowed to take money from Maltese visiting our State hospital using public parking space. And the cherry on the cake is that he is also awarded a yearly sum to make up for so called losses.
To further confuse the matter, and to reconfirm that most of our so called independent journalists cannot be trusted with a pencil, we discover that Kenneth DeMartino uses the PR services of the Institute of Journalists President Malcolm Naudi, and the latter sees nothing wrong in this.
If this does not convince you of how caring the Gonzi administration is, just take a closer look at the collective agreements signed before the election. They are construed without any consideration for the source of revenue.
As Gonzi’s men signed agreements that would cost the tax payer millions, no one asked the simple question who would foot the bill.
More interestingly, many of the direct financial implications of these agreements will not show up in this budget but in the next. Tonio Fenech might want to explain.
The frenzy to hand out goodies to potential voters was so immense and intense that the government is essentially penniless and not in a position to issue any more funds until the end of the year.
This is a government which was labelled ‘friends of friends’ by a person who could not sell a second hand car let alone lead a government. His name was Alfred Sant, but whatever he is accused of, he was spot on this one.
Alfred Sant may have been the PN’s bête noir; he may be the punching bag for many new Labourites who have now taken over Mile End, but he was not wrong on everything.
He was spot on as regards Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, and no one took him seriously. Worse still, the Gonzi campaign team kept the JPO scandal a secret until election eve.
This administration, like the one before it and the one before, has maladministered public funds and tailored public agencies on the Mintoffian doctrine.
Yet the argument that the Labourites will be the same or worse simply does not hold.
The reaction to all this is that the next time I will campaign for voters not to vote.
Last March, for obvious reasons, I could not possibly call on the electorate to take a trip to Siracusa on election day. Next time round nothing will change my view that not voting may the best thing for this country.
Such a view is fortified by another incident which continues to show the alleged propinquity between politics and business. There he was at il-Fosos. I am referring to Charles Azzopardi, the Tuna magnate, walking side by side with Ray Bezzina, the personal assistant to George Pullicino, at the Independence celebrations this very week.
Of course there is nothing wrong with that. This is a free world.
Just as Azzopardi’s firms can re-flag fishing vessels and change their names and hope that the Attorney General’s office does not advise the police to take legal action.
Just as we can invite Pullicino on his chartered yacht to Sicily and take libel action against this newspaper, I can express my concern that you cannot be fisheries minister and associate yourself with someone like Charles Azzopardi.
But enough of this fishy business.
The moral of the story is that it does not really matter who administers this country. It does not really matter if George Pullicino wants to share a sail with Charles Azzopardi or whether Peter Fenech is appointed to a board by Edgar Galea Curmi.
What matters is that the government is penniless and that to bring in more revenues to pay for extravagant agreements and blue eyed boys, Tonio Fenech’s ministry will devise more ways to collect indirect revenues from the sedentary salaried middle classes.
A year on and we will be facing a further credit crunch and the situation will be far worse, part of the problem will be a result of an international financial crisis. But the big real blame for the state of the State should be directed at one man.
This country needs to be governed in the interests of all Maltese not one small section or one political party.
Will Gonzi find the political maturity to respond to this need?