In 1966, Carmelo Caruana was a Nationalist minister responsible for works and roads. There is a bust in the quaint town of Zurrieq to commemorate his life. Nothing has ever been said of his projects that ripped through Maltese towns and countryside, changing them forever. His epitaph says nothing of how his roads deformed many of our townscape and inner towns.
In 1966 he planned a road through the Ghadira hunting reserve. Back then it was a small pond-like lagoon, used by a Maltese noble who lived a stone’s throw away. Naturalists and birders called it a salt marsh. They had been campaigning to change the area into a nature reserve.
In 1966 a small group came together with a sizeable number of UK expatriates and convinced the government to revoke the decision.
Years later, in 1982, another notorious works minister came up with a plan. He also has a bust to mark his political life – this time round the bust is in an ugly garden in Paola. He too planned a road through Ghadira. By this time Ghadira was a nature reserve. His name, by the way was Lorry Sant.
Once again the same greens - Birdlife Malta, then known as MOS – protested, and the minister renowned for his brusque ways surprisingly retreated and opted for widening the existing road and making the beach smaller.
It is now 2008, and the minister’s name is neither Caruana nor Sant, but Austin Gatt, and I believe that in 20 or 30 years’ time we will see his bust in Valletta or Marsalforn.
He too has a plan, and it is not surprisingly a photocopy of the same Lorry Sant road project. But unlike the days of Lorry Sant, I think Birdlife might have a very difficult time ahead of them in halting this grand project.
Because as we all know, it isn’t the argument that counts in today’s world, but the absolute determination of a politician to ignore everyone else on planet earth.
I guess it is an indication of how democratised Malta has become, and how autocratic some people have turned out to be.
And it also bring back memories of a relative, a ‘Stricklandjana’, who would say, never looking at me in the eyes:
“Saviour ftakar: il-Laburisti tarahom gejjin, u jbambluhulek go halqek, u n-Nazzjonalisti jidhkulek u jbambluhulek … skuzi… minn wara.”
A translation, I guess, would be superfluous.
Memories are today rather irrelevant to many people. So perhaps the stories of Lorry Sant and Carmelo Caruana mean nothing to many readers of this column.
It only proves that history repeats itself and that after all, the difference between one politician and another is rather insignificant.
So if memory does not play a part in today’s psyche some other disturbing home truths do.
First and foremost, the proposed road will cut through Foresta 2000: the forest which, by the way, is managed jointly by Din l-Art Helwa and Birdlife Malta, and which was destroyed by vandals – probably errant hunters.
The whole episode was then used as a political platform to prove how green they can get. For a whole week last year, ministers and politicians would turn up in their jacket and tie and pose for the press with a hoe in their hand and a smile on their face.
It does tend to happen before elections, you know.
Obviously Austin Gatt has completely forgotten that some months ago, all his co-ministers were busy planting Aleppo pine trees with photographers and the press. It was a better example of tokenism.
And then we had the 34U campaign, in collaboration with the banks and other institutions. They raised thousands for trees to be planted there bang in the middle of the planned road.
Now, all this mise en scène, lip service and tree hugging at Foresta 2000 may well come to an abrupt end because of this road.
Indeed I suggest Austin Gatt name this road the ‘Vjal Lorry Sant’ in memory of the project that Lorry had always dreamt of, but never accomplished because on this one occasion he caved in to public opposition.
And this, lest we forget, was at a time when Labour boiled babies and ate little children for supper.
Now, if memories are not at all important to most people, perhaps a very simple illustration may bring them to their senses.
So it follows that this government is calling on everyone to be sensitive to the global financial credit crunch and blaming the world for its fiscal ills.
It is of course an untruth, but then, what is the truth?
In this impossible financial situation and with the vast or absolute majority of all our roads in such a bloody mess, the construction of yet another road is, to put it bluntly, not on.
It is true some people hate driving in traffic jams when they drive to and from Gozo, but there are traffic jams in all parts of the world. Drive into Paris, Rome, Frankfurt, London or even Harare, and yes, one also encounters traffic jams.
But in Paris they do not build roads in the Bois du Boulogne to solve their traffic problems, and in Rome you don’t pass a road by Villa Borghese. You reduce the traffic to solve the problem.
It has a lot to do with greening your policies. Gonzi should know about this, shouldn’t he?
As this government plans to brush past the Ghadira reserve and into Foresta 2000, the by-pass at St Paul’s Bay is still a single carriageway, after parts of it collapsed due to bad road construction.
There are hardly any roads up to standard or without potholes. They are in fact a monument to crass incompetence from most of our works ministers.
Our roads, paid for by our taxes and constructed by incompetent road engineers and unskilled workers, offer a true picture of how this country, with so many expensive and luxury cars, can offer a road network equivalent to the roads in Chad or Sudan.
When younger, in the days when the Nationalist were in opposition before 1987, a drive over a bad road would inevitably lead to the traditional exclamation: “Lorry Sant has not passed from here.”
In 22 years of Nationalist administration, not once have I heard the same reference to a Nationalist works minister.
It seems when your car loses its suspension, or suffers irreparable damage the person to blame is someone else, but not government.
In 22 years, most people have a family, children, a career, a home, experience tragedy, complete an education, travel innumerable times, eat and drink all sort of things, lose and gain friends. We remember seeing Malta change its face from a green pasture to a grey mass of concrete. We recall seeing idealistic politicians turn sour. And yet this government, after 22 years at Castille, cannot come to grips with the fundamental science responsible for building a secondary road.
Go on Sur Gvern, build your road. Life goes on and so does our belief that politicians are intrinsically all the same and only different when they want you to support them with your vote.

Ibambluhulek
Now if there was anyone who would ‘ibambalulek’ in the real sense of the word, it had to be the police officers Stubbings, Pico, Bonello and Schembri. Only two weeks ago this newspaper uncovered how Stubbings and Schembri operate the security at the law courts and how they run a warden service.
The reaction to this story was similar to the reaction of the Island nation of Tuvalu to Paul Borg Olivier’s argument that he did nothing incorrect or wrong when he sent an email to ministers asking for personal data of personal citizens.
If Stubbings and Schembri were the hate figures of the Nationalist media before 1987 then why was their no reaction to this story?
Why? Perhaps because the Nationalist believe that everyone has lost his and her memory.
But it goes to prove that when politicians defame, hit out and destroy opponents rightly or wrongly, they are doing this for one reason. And that reason has nothing to do with justice.

Over and out
Perhaps remembering is a dirty word. Paul Borg Olivier’s f*** up as reported in last Sunday’s MaltaToday is proof that everything is possible or acceptable.
I will not suggest that Paul Borg Olivier resign. Why should I suggest something when it will never happen?
But if Borg Olivier had been caught red handed in another country his political career would be effectively over and out.
The attempt by PN functionaries to cover up for Paul is also indicative of how politicians regroup when mistakes are committed.
Yes, Paul go on. Don’t worry, in a year’s time no one will remember what you have done or said. Not you, not them. Just us at MaltaToday, we will be reminding people that personal data is never safe and could well be in the hands of Big Brother.
So there you go.

Dreaming
Well if Borg Olivier is not dreaming of resigning, neither is Claudio Grech who doubles up as Smart City chief and MITTS chief. He also thinks that the word resignation does not exist in his dictionary.
The same can be said for the MITTS board, the people who think that we in the press are a bunch of nasty guys.
And of course, the ministers who also think that resignations are for sissies.

Mater Dei security guard
Three cheers to the security guard at Mater Dei who loves to scream at relatives of patients at the ITU. It is bad enough they have to pass through a gruelling personal tragedy, all they need is one of Kenneth Demartino’s private soldiers acting like brown shirts.

Christmas decorations
Christmas decorations are back. Congratulations for bringing back these awful props that make our roundabouts look like silly office décor.
And once again, thank you for placing decorations at our war monument. It is so appropriate.

Read Illum
Last April I wrote: “Now all of a sudden, we are faced with the very thoughtful consideration that all the ministers and parliamentary secretaries who did not make it should be compensated. But surely this must be a joke.”
Well if you have not purchased your Sunday copy of ILLUM, you had better do before the end of the day. This joke has come of age.

Gang rape
The gang rape of a 21-year-old woman in Gozo was received with the usual whispering in Gozo.
All the accused were released on bail, the sum being €1,000. Magistrate Coppini should be applauded for his decision. It confirms my belief that when it comes to wise and tough decisions, Coppini is my man.
Some weeks back a Maltese was jailed for a month for not paying a court fine of 300 euros.
His crime? Keeping stray dogs!
Suggestion: Just in the same way that Magistrate Mallia has been chosen to hear all libel actions, I humbly propose that all gang-rapes are referred to Magistrate Coppini.
Indeed I should also add that all Maltese rape cases are placed under the Gozitan jurisdiction.

Cosmetics
Muscat has done away with Guze Ellul Mercer foundation and Mikiel Anton Vassalli foundation and has come up with a foundation without a ‘REAL’ name.
In most countries, political foundations have icons that inspire them. They are called father figures: Adenauer for AZAD, Friedrich Ebert for the FES, and so on so forth.
Ellul Mercer was an icon for the Labour party. To do away with the past and build a party on empty acronyms is conducive to building a party on imagery and cosmetics.
How about that, GUZ!

 

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